23 months in jail for cocaine trafficking conviction

A man arrested on cocaine trafficking charges earlier this year was sentenced Thursday to 23 months in jail.

Kalab Wolde entered guilty pleas at the Medicine Hat courthouse to one count of trafficking a controlled substance, one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking, and two counts of breaching his release conditions.

Wolde’s lawyer on Thursday requested that no credit for time already spent in custody be put toward the sentence, despite Wolde being in custody since February.

This is in part because any sentence above two years could lead to Wolde’s deportation, as he is a landed resident.

Judge Darwin Greaves noted during sentencing that by waiving the credit for time in custody, Wolde will have a sentence actually longer than the 23 months.

The charges against Wolde stem back to Jan. 2017, when police received source information that there were drugs being trafficked from a specific cellphone number.

Undercover officers proceeded to arrange and purchase both crack-cocaine and powdered cocaine from Wolde multiple times at an apartment building on Carswell Road.

During one conversation with an undercover officer, Wolde indicated that another man was the one who was the boss, and providing the drugs to sell.

While Wolde does have a criminal record for charges that include weapon possessions, assault and theft under $5,000 — until this sentence, he does not have a record related to narcotics.

Police arrested Wolde, alongside Kunyak Bichiok, David Pach and Angol Koro as part of the investigation.

Bichiok and Pach’s defence counsel set a preliminary hearing date of Dec. 19 of this year for their clients. Pach’s lawyer asked for an adjournment to July 20.