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Two former Ice Crushers executives spared further jail time

September 29, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Pickford

An Ontario judge has this week spared two of the three former members of the now-defunct Orangeville Ice Crushers’ executive from facing further jail time.

Convicted on multiple marijuana production and trafficking charges, Coleman Schneider and Rada Culciar were found guilty by a jury following an eight-day trial in Orangeville and were ordered to pay fines of $3,000 and $1,500 respectively. A sentencing date for the third accused, Orangeville resident Ryan Zeng, is expected to be scheduled before the end of the year.

While the Crown had requested six-month prison sentences for Mr. Schneider and Ms. Culciar, Superior Court Justice Joseph Fragomeni concluded that the fines plus time already served – three months for Mr. Schneider and three days for Ms. Culciar – was punishment enough.

The trio were charged last November for their part in the grow-op. Originally assisting the Dufferin County Sheriff’s office in enforcing a court-ordered eviction at a rural property on the 8th line of Amaranth, Dufferin OPP discovered thousands of dollars’ worth of marijuana, both plants and processed drug, long with various pieces of equipment typically used for production of the drug. The group had been renting the property.

Mr. Schneider was the Ice Crushers’ general manager and head coach prior to his arrest. Mr. Zeng was the team’s goaltending coach, while Ms. Culciar was the organization’s director of public relations. Following the arrests, the Ice Crushers organization lasted just two months before Greater Metro Hockey League General Manager and Commissioner Ken Girard announced the team had folded with immediately effect, citing cash flow problems.

It was determined in court that the grow-op was maintained for personal use rather than distribution purposes. As a part of their sentence, the pair were told to pay their former landlord a total of $3,600 to cover damages and losses sustained as a result of the operation.

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