THUNDER BAY - A 16-year-old GTA youth who has been in custody since his arrest in May in connection with drug trafficking and breach charges was sentenced in a Thunder Bay courtroom on Wednesday.
The teen, who cannot be identified in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, one count of obstructing a peace officer by providing a false name, and various charges related to failing to comply with conditions of previous probation and release orders from southern Ontario.
Court heard from provincial Crown counsel Heather Bracken a traffic stop was conducted on May 22 on a vehicle that failed to stop completely at a stop sign. The female driver told the police officer she only knew the two passengers by their aliases and that she had been asked to pick them up.
The two individuals provided false names to police and were handed a fine for not wearing their seatbelt under the Highway Traffic Act, Bracken said.
Two days later, Thunder Bay police received a citizen’s complaint about unlawful people that were inside a residence. When police attended, they found a number of individuals with one of them being the accused, said federal Crown prosecutor Ron Poirier at the sentencing hearing.
After he was searched, police found more than $5,000 in cash on the accused and located 74.7 grams of cocaine on the ground near the accused.
When the accused was in police custody, the arresting officer recognized him from an encounter several days prior and learned the boy and another individual had lied about their names and addresses, Bracken said.
The youth’s lawyer, Richard Garrett, told the court his client became involved in drug trafficking as a way to make fast money to help out his single mother.
A joint sentence submission of six months of custody for the drug trafficking offences followed by three months of supervision was endorsed by Judge Peter Bishop.
The youth will also be placed on an 18-month probation period for his other charges from May 22. Part of his conditions require him to stay out of the city and to have no contact with three individuals.
Bishop issued a warning to the teen during his sentencing stating he needs to get out of the drug trade.
“You’re just running a bad future for yourself but you can turn it around with the assistance of your counsellors, with the assistance of your mother and any other person you might trust to get you on the straight track,” Bishop said. “If you continue on this way you’re going to spend a large amount of your youth and adult life in custody.”
The boy will also have to submit his DNA into a forensic national DNA databank and is prohibited from possessing any weapon for a period of two years.
The young offender was also given credit for approximately two months he has already spent in pre-sentence custody.
