Four-year jail term for weapons, drug convictions

A 30-year-old St. Catharines man will spend the next four years behind bars after being convicted on several weapons and drug offences.

Dylan Maniacco appeared in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Friday and pleaded guilty to a number of offences including possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a restricted firearm.

“Fentanyl is one of the worst drugs, if not the worst drug,” Judge Cameron Watson told Maniacco. “It is a truly evil drug that wreaks havoc on anyone who uses it and any community that it is in.”

He said both the fentanyl and the assault rifle plus 39 rounds of ammunition police found at the defendant’s residence, were capable of “killing many people.”

On Oct. 16, 2018, court heard, Niagara Regional Police went to a Victoria Avenue hotel in Niagara Falls in search of a woman who was wanted by police.

Maniacco invited officers into his hotel room, where they spotted cocaine and ammunition on a table.

He was arrested and police searched the room and discovered 34 grams of cocaine and more than $2,700 in cash.

While awaiting disposition on the first set of charges, Maniacco was arrested again three months later after police were called to investigate a fight at a Lundy’s Lane motel in Niagara Falls.

Police found Maniacco hiding under a truck. They also found bundles of cash, brass knuckles, a Taser, more than 200 grams of cocaine and four grams of fentanyl.

On Feb. 14, court was told, police were notified after a threat involving a firearm was made against a man and woman.

A business in the area of Bunting Road and Welland Avenue in St. Catharines was placed in lockdown as officers tracked a suspect to a home near Welland Avenue.

Members of the Emergency Task Unit entered the apartment and arrested Maniacco. An assault rifle and ammunition were seized from the residence.