‘Mid-level drug dealer’ sent to jail

A 23-year-old Charlottetown man was sentenced in provincial court to serve 16 months in the provincial correctional centre for his involvement in drug trafficking.

Stephen Robert John MacDonald was charged after he sold cannabis to an agent of the police.

Upon release from custody, MacDonald will be placed on probation for two years.

Chief Provincial Court Judge Nancy Orr also ordered the accused to either seek employment or further his education.

He is to refrain from associating with anyone his probation officer tells him to have no contact with.

MacDonald was one of several people charged with drug-related offences as a result of Project Lunge, a joint federal drug investigation between the RCMP federal investigations unit and Stratford RCMP and the RCMP in New Brunswick.

Project Lunge targeted illicit drug networks that were transporting and distributing illegal drugs and controlled substances such as powder and crack cocaine, hydromorphone and cannabis.

The Crown had called for a sentence in the range of 12 to 18 months for MacDonald, whom police described as a mid-level drug dealer.

Crown Counsel referenced a decision of Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Taylor in which Taylor described those who engage in the sale of illegal drugs as being among the worst offenders in society.

In passing sentence Orr noted that there are very few days when the courts of P.E.I. do not see the impact the sale of illegal drugs has on the community.

Orr said text messages and audio recordings provided to the court showed MacDonald’s level of involvement in the drug trade and what his intentions were with regards to the future sale of drugs.