Published Sep 25, 2026  •  Last updated 3 days ago  •  2 minute read

Some of the wide variety of drugs seized by Brantford Police in February when Shawn Biehn was arrested.

A Brantford man with a long criminal record and a longer drug habit told a judge in 2011 his oxycontin addiction had taken everything and made him a monster.

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“I don’t want to be (that) anymore,” Shawn Joseph Biehn told the court 15 years ago.

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But, despite a criminal record already filled with breaking and enters, copper thefts, armed robberies and many breaches of court orders, Biehn seemed incapable of getting help or reigning in his criminal tendencies.

In 2019 he was arrested with a variety of drugs, cash, two stolen high-end bicycles and a sawed-off shotgun with his girlfriend’s initials carved into it, getting him a six-year sentence.

After his release from prison, Biehn returned quickly to the drug world and, in February this year, was arrested after an extensive investigation by Brantford Police.

With search warrants, officers went through homes on Pearl Street, Walter Street and two cars – a Silverado and a Mercedes Benz SUV.

As he was being arrested downtown, Biehn tried to discard his fentanyl stash under an unmarked police car but it was recovered. Officers found he had an estimated $75,000 to $100,000 worth of drugs on him.

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Biehn also had a loaded Sig Sauer 9mm handgun, an extreme high-voltage police grade stun gun and a black metal butterfly knife in his backpack.

In court, Biehn pleaded guilty to possessing a restricted firearm and possession of fentanyl for trafficking.

“It was wrong,” he told the judge.

“I’ve done it my whole life. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”

The three lawyers involved – defence, provincial assistant Crown and federal prosecutor – presented Justice Amanda Camara with a serious joint sentence request for 10 years in prison.

The judge gave Biehn a year of pre-sentence credit for the more than six months he served in Maplehurst Correctional Complex, where he was triple-bunked almost the entire time and in repeated lockdowns.

It leaves him nine years to serve and he’s prohibited from having most weapons and firearms for the rest of his life.

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