Former provincial politician and publisher of the Western Standard Derek Fildebrandt has been charged with four counts of uttering threats against teenagers in his neighborhood. 

The incident took place on April 13 at approximately 8:50 pm. According to the Calgary Police Service four teens aged 13 to 14 years old were threatened by Fildebrandt while on their way to a convenience store. 

Photo via Western Standard.

“It is believed the boys were waiting for a friend when they were approached by the accused, whose residence they were standing in front of, as he believed they were responsible for vandalizing his property,” said a CPS spokesperson in a statement.  

CPS says that the boys fled and Fildebrandt chased them in his vehicle and threatened them. A neighbour interjected and Fildebrandt returned to his residence. The 38-year-old Fildebrandt was charged by the Calgary Police Service several weeks later on May 23.

Fildebrandt has hired criminal defense lawyer Alain Hepner, who told the CBC that Fildebrant was injured, "limping and using a cane."

"The facts are very much exaggerated, and context of the events will be very significant at the trial," Hepner told the CBC. "There will be a trial to air out the entire narrative and he will definitely be pleading not guilty on all charges.

Fildebrandt was elected as a Wildrose MLA in 2015 and supported merging the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties. After a series of minor scandals that culminated with him renting out his taxpayer funded apartment on AirBnB Fildebrandt was ejected from the United Conservative Party caucus.

In 2018 Fildebrant said “politics is full of bullshit” in a press conference and eventually left politics to restart the ultra–right wing magazine the Western Standard. In 2023 the Western Standard received $17,500 from the UCP government for a sole-source contract for “media library content.” The UCP government also advertises heavily on the site. 

Fildebrandt released a statement of his own on the Western Standard Monday afternoon, alleging that the minors “concocted” the story because, Fildebrandt claims, they were vandalizing his property.

What was vandalized was not specified by Fildebrandt in his statement.