Man sentenced for drugs, stolen truck
A Prince George man was sentenced Friday to two years plus a day in jail after RCMP seized an estimated $15,000 worth of drugs from his home.
James Henry MacKean, 40, was issued the term for a Dec. 4, 2015 incident that began when a pickup truck was stolen from a Bendixon Road home. Later the same day, a Prince George RCMP officer spotted the vehicle in the driveway of MacKean’s 2900-block Nechako Drive home.
RCMP set up surveillance on the home to try to determine who was responsible for the theft and saw MacKean and co-accused Kurt Werner Steinhauser change the licence plates with another vehicle.
The two then left the home, Steinhauser driving the stolen pickup and MacKean behind the wheel of another pickup. The two, plus a third man, were arrested at a nearby gas station.
When a “pocketful of meth” was found on Steinhauser, a known drug addict with a lengthy criminal record, RCMP executed a search warrant on MacKean’s home early the next morning.
In the bathroom, RCMP found a manila envelope containing 277 grams of crack cocaine, 283 grams of methamphetamine and 31 grams of heroin and about $15,000 in cash underneath the sink. In a hallway closet, a small cashbox holding $2,035 in $5 bills was found and in the master bedroom, a baggie holding 2.1 grams of heroin, 7.06 grams of cocaine and four grams of methamphetamine was uncovered.
Several digital scales, some with drug residue on them, baggies and other packaging material and score sheets were also seized.
On Steinhauser, police had also found a cellphone with a text message to “Jessie James” offering to sell the truck for $1,500.
MacKean subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of stolen property.
MacKean has one previous conviction on his record. In 2013, he was sentenced to nine months in jail for exceeding the limit on the amount of medical marijuana he was allowed to grow under federal licences.
That came after nearly 400 plants were seized from a 500-block Alward Street duplex in April 2011. The licences were for just 90 plants.
MacKean, who has been operating a courier service in Prince George, said he plans to move to the Lower Mainland once he’s completed his sentence.
“I’ve made mistakes and I just don’t want this life no more,” he told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church prior to sentencing.
Crown counsel had suggested 18 months in jail but MacKean asked for a longer term so he could serve the time in a federal facility where the programming is considered to be better.
In April, Steinhauser was sentenced to time served and one year probation after showing signs that he had turned his life around by attending a treatment centre while out on bail. Charges against a third person, Rhianna Marilyn Skorepa, were stayed in April.