Wanted man goes to police HQ with drugs
It was perhaps not the wisest decision for a wanted man.
On June 4, while wanted on a warrant, Dylan Jake Smith walked into Regina Police Service headquarters to try to retrieve some property from evidence management. If the warrant wasn’t enough to cause him some problems that day, he’d also brought a quantity of illegal drugs with him.
“Obviously, he was not in his right mind (that day),” defence lawyer Jill Drennan told the court during Smith’s sentencing last week.
The young man appeared at Regina Provincial Court on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of drug possession and several counts of breaching release conditions. After hearing submissions, Judge Murray Hinds agreed to impose the sentence jointly recommended by Crown and defence lawyers, handing down six months time served and fines amounting to $1,250.
Court heard Smith had been on electronic monitoring in the past but had removed his bracelet, leading to a warrant being issued for his arrest.
Federal Crown agent Hal Wellsch told the court that police ran Smith’s name through their internal system when he showed up at the police station that day, at which point the warrant was spotted.
In the course of the resulting arrest, police searched Smith — and found in his pockets about five grams of crystal meth and 21.49 grams of marijuana. Some of the drugs were wrapped in individual baggies, initially resulting in charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Last week, the Crown instead accepted pleas to the lesser and included charges of simple possession.
“Essentially, he walked into the police station with not an insignificant amount of drugs on him,” Wellsch summed up.
Drennan said her client has a drug problem and has spent a sizable part of his adult life behind bars.
Hinds asked Smith if he wants out of the drug life, to which Smith replied, “Yeah.”
Smith continues to faces some unrelated charges and is still in custody on those matters. Those charges are back in court in early December for a bail bearing.