Fentanyl dealer gets 8 years in prison
Cortney Rattray-Johnson “sold death and misery” as she led the fast-money life of a hard-drug dealer who preyed on Ottawa’s most vulnerable.
That’s what she was told by a judge Tuesday, as a sad ending to Rattray-Johnson’s career as a fentanyl dealer played out at the Elgin Street courthouse.
Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder afforded Rattray-Johnson time to say a tearful goodbye to her supportive family and friends before she was escorted off to prison for eight years.
Just 27 and freshly engaged, Rattray-Johnson stood and cried as she was sentenced for selling every hard drug in the book, including deadly fentanyl (in straight-powdered form). Half of the heroin she was selling was cut with fentanyl. She hugged her family, one by one, before police took her away.
Rattray-Johnson pleaded guilty early on, a key mitigating factor in sentencing, the judge said. The judge also described the drug dealer’s apology as genuine, and noted she didn’t make any excuses.
“I simply want to apologize to the court and the community and my family for my actions, and I take full responsibility for what I have done,” Rattray-Johnson told the court. “I recognize my actions have had a terrible impact on some of the most vulnerable people in our community, and for that, in particular, I am deeply sorry.
“The things I have done do not represent who I am,” she said.
Rattray-Johnson, a hair stylist who has struggled with addiction, expressed deep regret and made a “sincere promise” to come out of prison reformed. She said she would “never, ever be before the court again.”
The judge noted that her greedy, deadly business preyed on the city’s most vulnerable and that Rattray-Johnson was essentially playing Russian roulette with other people’s lives.
The judge told the first-time offender that she was still “extremely young with a full life ahead,” and said she was fortunate to have supporters who will help her once she’s served her prison term.
Her friends and family filed letters of support at the sentencing hearing. In the letters, those supporters condemned the hard-drug business and acknowledged its scourge.
Her family had no clue she was selling drugs and are grateful that the drugs are off the street.
Rattray-Johnson spent her final night of freedom at a family BBQ on Monday. (Her last supper was a chicken breast with sliced potatoes.)
She previously told the court that she plans to marry convicted drug dealer Joshua Eyamie-Binks — who is serving 10 years for drugs and guns convictions — once both are released from prison.
Eyamie-Binks, 31, was arrested with Rattray-Johnson in February after police executed 11 search warrants following a tip that the couple were trafficking fentanyl. Police seized a large quantity of hard drugs, several firearms and $136,000 found hidden throughout a home.
That the drug-dealing couple had lots of guns (a rifle, two 12-gauge shotguns, a 9-mm semi-automatic handgun, a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver, and a Glock .40) made for a “lethal combination,” the judge said.
Eyamie-Binks, a father of three young children, apologized at his sentencing last month.
“I just want to say I know I messed up and I’m taking responsibility for it. I plan on changing my life after this.”
Rattray-Johnson hopes to take business courses in prison and the couple plan to open a bistro once released.