Trafficker tells court she has changed

Having a gun held to her head was part of the impetus to turn her life around, says a Saskatoon woman who ran a major drug trafficking operation that attracted a “drug rip” home invasion where a man was killed.

Anita Lynn Favreau, 44, said seeing a man fatally shot in front of her during the Oct. 14, 2015, daytime incident on Garrison Crescent “flipped a switch” in her that has contributed to her 22-month clean streak since her arrest in November 2015.

Favreau pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of possessing cocaine for trafficking, one count of possessing methamphetamine for trafficking and one count of possessing more than $5,000 in proceeds of crime. She took the stand Monday at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, where she told her life story to Justice Gerald Allbright at a sentencing hearing that continues today.

According to an agreed statement of facts presented by Crown prosecutor Stacey Cameron, the combined forces drug unit began investigating Favreau and James Lloyd in April 2015 in connection with drug trafficking in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert that included regular trips to Edmonton for supplies of drugs.

The pair worked out of a house on Grosvenor Crescent. After the couple broke up in August 2015, Favreau rented a house alone in the 300 block of Garrison Crescent. Favreau continued the trafficking activity even after being robbed at gunpoint by her drug runner. Another person she trusted stole drugs and money that he lost at a casino. Her debt collector, Dustin Sand, also collected money for her but never handed it over, Cameron said.

Those problems with her hired help were uncovered among the text messages found on two cellphones eventually seized by police.

On Oct. 14, four men invaded the Garrison Crescent house, during which one of them, Corey Favel, was fatally shot. Sand awaits trial on a manslaughter charge in connection with the death.

She continued the trade, selling almost a gram of cocaine to an undercover officer one week after the fatal shooting.

When police moved in on her, they seized deposits and e-transfers to her bank account totalling more than $200,000 over three years.