Hidden room & Hell’s Angels: Lakeshore man sent to prison for drug trafficking

A man has been sentenced in connection to a police investigation into a “criminal drug trafficking network” based in Belleville, with ties to the Hell’s Angels.

Jesse Thibert, 45, was recently sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for his implication in Project Coyote.

Thibert pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking cocaine and one count of possession of anabolic steroids for the purpose of trafficking in a Belleville, Ont. court.

He was arrested in February 2023 through the joint police operation called ‘Project Coyote.’

Five police services, including Windsor, were involved in the investigation that took more than a year.

Authorities were investigating a “criminal drug trafficking network” based in Belleville, according to an Agreed Statement of Facts.

It started with a person identified only as the “drug distributor” who was a “full patch member” of the Hells Angels in Belleville.

Police determined “Jesse Thibert was one of the individuals who was supplying the drug distributor with cocaine,” according to court documents.

Hidden room

When police executed a search warrant at Thibert’s home on Patillo Road – they discovered a fake shelf in the laundry room.

The shelf swung inward to reveal a hidden room.

Inside, authorities discovered steroids, MDMA, psilocybin, hashish, and cannabis.

They also seized a bulletproof vest, brass knuckles with a flip-knife, more than $179,000 in Canadian currency and a “debt list.”

Police surveillance

During their surveillance of the drug distributor, they observed Thibert give the distributor cocaine.

One transaction worth $16,000. The other more than $17,000.

In both instances, the drug distributor drove to Tecumseh from Trenton – just outside of Belleville – exchanged cash for drugs and returned home.

Thibert in prison

Thibert was sentenced Tuesday to three and a half years in prison but was given a year of pretrial custody credit. He has approximately 2.5 years to serve before applying for parole.

When Thibert is out of prison, his DNA will be in the database and he has a lifetime ban on owning weapons.