Convicted Chilliwack drug dealer arrested for alleged parole breach

The RCMP logo is pictured on a police cruiser. (File photo)

A convicted Chilliwack drug dealer is back in police custody after allegedly breaching the conditions of his parole.

Chilliwack RCMP announced Tuesday that they had arrested 42-year-old Clayton Eheler with the help of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C.

The arrest occurred Friday "after discovery of evidence that he had been violating his long-term-supervision order," Mounties said in a news release.

Police said Eheler was convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking in 2023 and served 10 months before being released in July 2024.

One of the conditions of the supervision order prohibited Eheler from associating with "anyone to be involved in criminal activity."

"Investigators first came across information to suggest Eheler was breaching this condition in July 2024," the release reads.

"A brief and timely investigation confirmed a breach had occurred, resulting in Eheler’s arrest."

A review is underway to determine whether Eheler's parole will be revoked, police said.

While the RCMP release did not elaborate on the underlying incident that led to Eheler's 2023 conviction, his name and age match CFSEU-BC news releases and B.C. court decisions stemming from an investigation that began in 2014.

The CFSEU-BC, which investigates organized crime in the province, said the investigation involved the execution of several search warrants and the seizure of millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs, all targeting what investigators described as a "crime cell operating primarily out of the Upper Fraser Valley and B.C.'s north."

In 2019, the unit issued a statement celebrating the conviction and sentencing of four men, including a Clayton Archie Eheler, in connection to the investigation. Eheler's sentence, according to the CFSEU-BC, was nine years. 

However, a B.C. Court of Appeal decision from 2021 set aside the convictions of Eheler and another man, ordering a new trial because a lower-court judge had taken too long to release his reasons for denying them the standing necessary to challenge a search warrant.