THUNDER BAY — A man who turned 18 just one month before being arrested during a police investigation into a home takeover has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.
The sentence was handed down last month by Justice Vince Scaramuzza in a Thunder Bay courtroom.
"The message needs to get out that if you are similarly minded ... in possessing a loaded prohibited handgun and are involved in the drug business to make fast money in Thunder Bay, as a first-time, youthful adult offender, you will go to the penitentiary," the judge wrote in the decision.
The case dates back to January 2021 when a manager with the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board came to believe that a DSSAB-owned residential unit on Sequoia Drive had been taken over by drug dealers from southern Ontario.
When police arrived to investigate, they found a male who appeared to be preparing to jump out of a second-storey window, and heard a loud disturbance taking place in the apartment.
Once inside, police found cash, crack cocaine, fentanyl and a loaded handgun, with ammunition located nearby.
They also discovered a monitor displaying video from surveillance cameras installed outside the building.
Ultimately, an 18-year-old from Ajax, a 16-year-old male from London, a 19-year-old male from Whitby, and a 38-year-old woman from Thunder Bay were charged with drug and firearms-related offences.
A fingerprint lifted from a 40-calibre Smith & Wesson was later found to match a print taken from the 18-year-old.
He did not have a firearms acquisition certificate, a licence, or a registration certificate for the seized gun.
Last year, he pleaded guilty to possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a firearm knowing that he was not the holder of a licence, and obstructing a police officer by providing a false name.
In subsequent sentencing arguments, the Crown recommended a sentence of three years, while the defence recommended 24 months less a day to be served in the community, followed by probation for 24 months.
Scaramuzza cited mitigating circumstances including the accused's guilty plea in advance of a trial date being set, signs of remorse that he showed in court, the fact that he was a first-time offender, that there are prospects of rehabilitation, and that he grew up in a stable environment and has a supportive family.
He also recognized that the young man has suffered anti-Black racism while growing up, but said he found limited evidence, if any, of a connection between racism and the circumstances of the offences that would mitigate his personal responsibility and culpability.
"Loaded gun offences are extremely serious. The lethal mix of combining a loaded firearm with drug dealing cannot be underestimated. It is dangerous, not only to the police but also to the public, including to the residents of 200B Sequoia."
Scaramuzza continued that line of thought, saying that intruders "have no business in the homes of others, including vulnerable tenants. There are too many of these 'home takeovers' in Thunder Bay on unsuspecting tenants, many in public housing."
He added "Loaded handguns can only be used to intimidate or to shoot and maim an unsuspecting victim. The public in Thunder Bay (or anywhere else in Canada) cannot tolerate this any longer."
The judge also made note of the increase in drug trafficking in the city by dealers from the Greater Toronto Area, and incidents of violence such as the May 5 shooting in the parking lot of a DSSAB building on Amelia Street.
"In the appropriate case," he said, "the court may take judicial notice of the prevalence of a crime in a community."
