A man caught with enough drugs to warrant a trafficking-related conviction was sentenced Thursday to 2 1/2 years in jail.
Garth Andrew Jordan Lee, 29, was also sentenced to an additional five months for carrying a set of brass knuckles while out on bail for the trafficking charges.
Less credit for time served prior to sentencing, Lee has 1 1/2 years left to serve.
Defence counsel had argued for 1 1/2 years before credit, but Prince George provincial court judge Shannon Keyes noted Lee had previously served a sentence of the same duration on similar charges.
Moreover, in addition to 10 grams of methamphetamine and 3.5 grams of cocaine, Prince George RCMP found 0.5 grams of heroin laced with fentanyl when he was apprehended in March 2017.
"Clearly, the 18-month sentence imposed on Mr. Lee in 2016 did not deter him from committing a more serious offence in 2017," Keyes said.
With 51 convictions to his name, Lee's criminal record in general worked against him.
Lee was arrested after a police were notified that he was driving while drunk and to carry out a drug deal in the VLA.
Armed with a description of his car and familiar with Lee's pattern of behaviour, RCMP headed to a neighbourhood he was known to frequent. On the way, they also learned through a computer check that he was wanted on outstanding warrants.
Within a few minutes, they saw a car matching the description turn sharply into the parking lot of a housing complex. When police converged, Lee attempted to speed away but the car's tires spun in the fresh snow.
As he continued to spin the tires, RCMP drew their guns. In turn, Lee got out of the car and attempted to run but was arrested following a struggle with several officers.
Along the path of Lee's flight, RCMP found a camera case that Keyes later found Lee had thrown into the snow in his attempt to evade arrest. Inside it, they found a battery pack, a digital scale and an assortment of drugs placed in small bags and in turn into larger bags with dollar values written on them.
During subsequent searches, more drugs in similar forms, $347 in cash, more baggies and two pipes suited to smoking drugs, were found on Lee's person and in the car, including the heroin-fentanyl in the console cupholder.
Although the quantities were relatively small, Keyes found that given the variety of drugs, the form in which they were found combined with the scale, cash, and additional baggies, Lee had meant to sell them. She also found Lee was a user as well as a dealer.
In October 2017, Lee was released on bail. He showed up for the first day of trial in January 2018 but failed to appear for two more dates in March 2018 and Keyes found he had absconded. In June 2019, he was arrested in Terrace and has remained in custody since then.
In Terrace, police who were aware of warrants for his arrest recognized him as he was riding a bicycle through the community's downtown. When they told him to stop, he fled and was followed to a home with a backyard full of stolen bikes.
With the help of others in the home, Lee, meanwhile, attempted to hide from police. He was found in a closet barricaded from the outside and with the brass knuckles on him.
Keyes was also less than impressed with his behaviour while in custody, noting he only began to turn towards taking self-improvement courses offered in the jail in the last few months. However, she did give him some credit for taking the step.
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