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Party drug seller claims he was unaware operation was illegal

A Quesnel man maintains he did not know he was breaking the law when he was selling so-called party drugs online.
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A Quesnel man maintains he did not know he was breaking the law when he was selling so-called party drugs online.

Travis James Gaudette, 33, will take the stand Tuesday during a sentencing hearing at the Prince George courthouse with the aim of convincing B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church that was the case.

If he does, it can be used as a mitigating factor when it comes to determining a fit sentence. Crown prosecution is seeking three years for Gaudette.

He has pleaded guilty to one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in relation to an investigation that began in June 2013 when Canada Border Service Agency intercepted a package containing 500 grams of butylone, sent from Nanjing, China to Gaudette's home.

He had been selling a variety of substances he billed as "safe alternatives to party drugs" through a website that was subsequently shut down.

In all, RCMP seized and intercepted slightly more than a kilogram of drugs estimated to be worth $100,000 to $150,000 once sold. They brought on effects similar to taking MDMA and Ecstacy, the court heard.

Charges were not laid for nearly a year because of the time it took to have the 84 samples seized analyzed. Some of the substances were not familiar to lab analysts, RCMP said at the time.

Although Gaudette told the author of a pre-sentence report he accepts full responsibility for the offence, he later went on to say he had no intention of breaking the law although he knew he was "walking into a grey area legally" and failed to contact the RCMP for guidance.

Gaudette's offence was due to a "lack of due diligence rather than a blatant attempt to break the law" and claimed that when he developed the business, the drugs were not listed as scheduled substances under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act.

Police determined it was up and running by 2011 and by that time, the items were listed on the CDSA as schedule III because of their psychedelic effects and by 2012 were raised to schedule I because of their addictive properties, the court was told.

It's expected charges against the defendant's father Darryl Arthur Gaudette, 58, will be stayed at the end of sentencing.