The convicted cocaine distributor for a Mexican drug cartel who made the fake RCMP car decals that helped a mass killer evade Nova Scotia police over two days took print-and-design courses behind bars.
Peter Alan Griffon — who SaltWire has confirmed made the fake police car decals used by the denturist who killed 22 people before police shot him — also worked at Corcan textiles while he was in prison. According to Correctional Service Canada, that’s an operation that allows prisoners to make “a wide range of high-quality textile products,” including webbing, canvas, and other custom manufacturing.
RCMP would not comment on what the decal maker did or didn’t do while in prison.
“It is noted throughout (Griffon’s) file information and confirmed by relatives that (he is) easily influenced by others,” Parole Board of Canada documents say.
Last month, Mounties said the decals were created without permission of the owner of the business where they were made and that both the owner and the person who made the decals were co-operating with police.
Edmonton police arrested Griffon in December 2014, alleging he was an associate of La Familia, a Mexico-based drug cartel. Police stopped the vehicle he was driving and found more than 800 grams of cocaine, cash, a score sheet and multiple mobile phones, according to Griffon’s parole records.
“A short time later, police searched a warehouse where (Griffon was) living,” parole documents say. “A number of items were found, including multiple firearms and ammunition, approximately four kilos of cocaine, $30,000 in cash and various paraphernalia used to buff, package and traffic cocaine. (Griffon) did not have a licence to possess any of the weapons and admitted to the police that (he) worked for a cocaine distribution operation and his job was to store, process, distribute, and transport cocaine to traffickers.”
Griffon, whose role as the mass shooter's decal maker was first reported by Maclean's, told the parole board he was living in the warehouse part time.
“In terms of the weapons, (Griffon stated he) held a party, and found the guns and ammunition in the warehouse the next day, which (he) stored in a locker and forgot about.”
Griffon told the parole board he was not associated with La Famila and that he had been selling drugs for a year to supplement his income and support his substance use.
Griffon, now 40, “used cocaine heavily” in his 30s, say parole documents, “eventually using up to (about $1,000 worth of cocaine a day when he was) arrested.”
He told the parole board in 2018 that he had “not used drugs since December 2014, after quitting ‘cold turkey’ and (that he had) cut all ties with any pro-criminal associates.”
Griffon was released on bail the same month he was arrested, on condition he report to his bail supervisor within two days.
Nova Scotia police arrested him again in March 2015 in Oxford, Cumberland County, after he “failed to show up as expected,” say parole documents.
Griffon told the parole board he was “under the false impression” that he was allowed to go to his “home province.”
In December 2017, Griffon pleaded guilty to charges that included possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and unauthorized possession of a restricted firearm. The judge sentenced him to six years and four months in prison, but with credit for time served on remand, that was whittled down to two years and nine months.
Griffon’s family owns a place in Portapique, where the mass shootings began. He has posted on Facebook recently about the area’s beautiful beach, but his profile has since been taken down.
Griffon’s only other criminal conviction came in 2007 for impaired driving.
He was “born on the East Coast and (reports) a happy upbringing,” parole documents say.
When he got out of prison, Griffon told the parole board he wanted to return to Nova Scotia to be closer to his family.
