A convicted drug dealer was sentenced Tuesday to a further 111 days in jail after a B.C. Supreme Court Justice found no evidence the man knew there were traces of fentanyl in the heroin he was selling.
Had Justice Robert Jenkins endorsed entirely Crown prosecution's position, Roger Todd Creuzot, 51, would have been sentenced to a further 35 months in jail, while defence counsel was effectively seeking time served.
Creuzot must also serve two months probation once his time behind bars is up.
He pleaded guilty to counts of trafficking in heroin, methamphatemine and cocaine as well as to prohibited possession of a 15-round magazine for a nine-millimetre gun and a stun gun from a July 2015 police raid on his home.
Police made the entry without a warrant but Jenkins found they had reasonable belief that evidence was about to be destructed and so did not violate Creuzot's charter rights.
They found cocaine valued at $3,184, heroin at $2,935 and methamphetamine at $2,910, leading police to believe he was trafficking at the street level. They also found evidence he was using his earnings to fortify his home in the form of firearms, a multi-camera surveillance system and a heavy steel door.
At a sentencing hearing, an RCMP officer testified dealers will use fentanyl to enhance low-grade heroin and increase its value. But he also agreed no separate pure fentanyl was found in the search and could not say if Creuzot had mixed the drug into the heroin himself.
Fentanyl is 100 more times more potent than most heroin and two milligrams - the same as two grains of rice - an be fatal even though it cannot be seen with the naked eye, the court had also heard.
The officer said RCMP began to "see and hear" of fentanyl being found in heroin as early as 2012 and by 2013 it had grown to the point where about one in 10 cases involved the drug. Police now assume almost all heroin is contaminated with fentanyl.
However, Jenkins found that at the time of the raid, there was still uncertainty about the role fentanyl played in accidental drug overdoses, an uncertainty that lasted until late 2016 according to one case authority he referenced.
In all, Creuzot was sentenced to 14 months in jail less credit of 314 days for time served prior to sentencing.
The full reasons for judgment is posted with this story at pgcitizen.ca.
