Local man gets 2.5 years for cross-border drug trafficking

A Medicine Hat man arrested in Saskatchewan as part of a cross-border drug trafficking investigation was sentenced Wednesday to two-and-ahalf years in jail.

Wayne Arthur Shrubsall entered a guilty plea to possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking at the Swift Current courthouse, with the judge handing down the sentence slightly above the two years requested by defence counsel, and below the four years requested by the Crown.

The sentencing wraps up charges that stem back to Dec. 2014 following an investigation involving Medicine Hat police, and both Alberta and Saskatchewan RCMP.

Police received information that Shrubsall and a co-accused Brenden Ross Taylor were trafficking, and a warrant was granted to conduct surveillance. This surveillance included tracking frequent visits to Swift Current and Moose Jaw — believed to be for drug deals — and led police to a Medicine Hat storage facility believed to be a stash location.

A warrant to search the storage facility was obtained, and inside it police found 21 ounces of cocaine with a $60,000 street value and an SKS rifle. Taylor was arrested and found in possession of the rental agreement for the storage locker, and keys to the vehicle and safe within the locker. While the rifle was a non-restricted weapon, Taylor did not have a licence for it. It was also loaded with a restricted magazine with 10 rounds. An older bullet-proof vest was also recovered.

Shrubsall was taken into custody following a vehicle stop outside of Maple Creek, with police seizing more than 300 grams of cocaine from the vehicle he was travelling in.

Taylor pled guilty to trafficking cocaine and weapon charges — as well as charges stemming from a completely separate incident — this past April. Taylor was sentenced to five years and three months, with seven months of his sentence considered served due to pretrial custody.

Shrubsall was granted release on the Saskatchewan charges, but has been in custody for almost a year after an arrest last August on more drug trafficking charges. These charges, which stem around the first appearance of “purple meth” in the city are set to go to trial in October, with Shrubsall’s co-accused Joshua Munroe.