• Top Stories of 2025 • Super-prolific offender charged with 13 firearms & trafficking offences sucks up court time

4th most viewed story in 2025 about Cole Amey who was once caught running a meth lab in a rented home while under house arrest

›› Something Worth Reading, the only truly local news outlet in the Fraser Valley, looks at the 10 most read stories of 2025 as we wrap up our first year sharing nearly 400 stories with 300,000 unique users ‹‹

Members of the public unfamiliar with the criminal justice system might be hard-pressed to understand why Cole Larry Maurice Amey is ever released on bail when accused of serious crimes. His history of arrests, charges, convictions, and breaches of release conditions is lengthy.

But here we are. 

The short, heavy-set man with a huge backwards swastika tattooed on his chest was out of custody when this fifth most viewed story of 2025 on Something Worth Reading was posted in October, and the well-known super-prolific offender did not show up for his court appearance on Oct. 23, something that likely surprised few in the local justice system.

The topic of prolific offenders and what are known in criminology as super-prolific offenders garners a lot of attention, including a lot of pageviews. That’s probably because of the 80-20 principle, a maddening reality for those in law enforcement who understand that something like 20 per cent of offenders cause 80 per cent of crime.

Amey is in that 20 per cent, although he can’t quite match up to Brian Robert Stephan who was examined closely through this lens in a story a day before Amey’s no-show for court, Oct. 22, 2025.

Amey’s latest foray into the criminal code includes four charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and six firearms charges. That includes three careless use or storage of a firearm, two counts of possession without licence or registration, and one count of possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm. 

He also faces a separate file from the same alleged day of the offence, April 2, 2023, three more firearms charges.

The now 40-year-old has an extensive criminal record for theft, weapons and violence in the Fraser Valley with more than 50 convictions as an adult, nearly half for breaching court-ordered conditions.

These latest 10 charges stem from April 2, 2023, but he only had a first appearance on the file on July 15, 2025 after being arrested while wanted on a warrant.

He was then a no-show for an Aug. 15 appearance, appeared Sept. 5, and on Oct. 10 they fixed a date of Thursday, Oct. 23, to elect trial by judge and jury or judge alone. 

But he again didn’t show up, presumably, based on the entries in court services online where his next appearance was listed for Nov. 4 to apply for a warrant. Amey's files were then amalgamated and, in a sense, started over with 13 charges total, the four drug trafficking and nine firearms related. He had a bail hearing on Nov. 13 on this new file and was released on bail, $500 with deposit, no surety. His first appearance was on Nov. 14 at which he or his lawyer again did not show up, according to court services online entries. An application for a warrant was set for Nov. 18 and then on Nov. 21. No warrant was issued and he was in court Nov. 25 to fix a date for trial. He had a pre-trial conference on Dec. 2 followed by another fix-date on Dec. 9, which put the case to Dec. 16, which was finally done on Dec. 22. That being, a four-day trial on all 13 charges is now scheduled for Sept. 14-17, 2026.

So he's out of custody on strict court-ordered conditions he has rarely adhered to. If he remains out of custody and behaves until Sept. 14, 2026, I'll eat my hat.

Landlord’s nightmare

Amey’s history while out on bail is not good, and it’s downright terrible if you ask one Chilliwack landlord.

Back on April 25, 2019, he was arrested facing 11 criminal charges most of which were connected to firearms. He was eventually found guilty of three counts: possession of stolen property over $5,000, occupying vehicle knowing a firearm was present, and possession of a firearm contrary to order.

Amey already had a lifetime ban on the possession of firearms.

He was released on bail a month after his arrest on those charges and, much to the chagrin of a Chilliwack landlord, his release plan ordered that he live with his mother in a Princess Avenue home that she did not own.

Less than two months into his bail, on July 5, 2019, a police raid turned up a loaded shotgun, a modified handgun, two cross bows, ammunition, and replica handgun air pistols. Also seized were a motorcycle, dirt bike, and two scooters linked to thefts reported to Chilliwack RCMP together with drugs believed to be fentanyl, paraphernalia associated to drug trafficking, and cash.

And there was also evidence of methamphetamine production.

“The two older ladies who we had a rental agreement with kept the place immaculate,” said a family member of the landlord who talked to me at the time and who asked not to be named. “When the home was raided by the RCMP in July, 2019, we were devastated by the condition of the home which resembled a hoarder house. Following the raid by the RCMP we were informed we were not allowed to enter the home due to possible meth production and a do not enter or occupy order was posted on the home.”

Amey was charged with two breaches of his release order and one count of possession of a firearm contrary to order.

Amey has caused countless problems and aggravation, but he has had a rough time as well, spending much of his time in segregation at the Surrey Pretrial Centre after being attacked and stabbed multiple times. A judge heard at a bail hearing in 2019 that he had to receive hundreds of stitches after the attack.

Amey has an extensive criminal record for theft, weapons and violence in the 

In provincial court in Chilliwack on Dec. 16, 2020, Amey was sentenced to one day jail, essentially time served, followed by 12 months probation for the substantive charges and the subsequent breach. He was sentenced to the same for an April 14, 2019 conviction for two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

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Paul J. Henderson
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