Vernon dial-a-dope dealer sentenced to six years

A Vernon man has been sentenced to two years less a day for operating as a dial-a-dope dealer trafficking heroin laced with fentanyl.

Dana John Kirton, 27, pleaded guilty in June 2017 to possessing a mixture of heroin and fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.

Last spring, Vernon RCMP received a tip that a drug trafficker was driving around in a Dodge Ram to deliver drugs in Vernon and Coldstream as part of a dial-a-dope operation. On May 31, 2017, police observed as Kirton drove a truck through Vernon, stopping occasionally for a passenger to get in before exiting again in less than a minute. That evening, police saw Kirton make 11 stops throughout Vernon. Police saw the same activity over the next two days, with Kirton making seven stops on each day.

Police arrested Kirton without incident on the third day. During a search of his vehicle, police found two collapsible batons, a pair of weighted gloves, a 10-inch knife that had been wedged into the truck’s console, three cellphones, more than $700 in cash and 29 separately packaged bags of drugs. Police also found 20 packages of crack cocaine, half of which were found to contain a mix of fentanyl and heroin.

In issuing his decision last week, Judge Richard Hewson took into account Kirton’s guilty plea, his lack of a criminal record, the bullying he endured that led to his dropping out in Grade 10, his father’s substance abuse as a factor in his childhood and that he had been steadily employed as a concrete finisher to support his toddler son.

A number of character letters were also submitted, leading Hewson to acknowledge Kirton “has a circle of friends and family that hold him in high regard.”

Hewson also balanced Kirton’s personal circumstances — it was found Kirton had begun trafficking to supplement his income in order to support his son — with the urgency of B.C.’s ongoing opioid crisis, citing Vernon’s 17 deaths in the first 10 months of 2017.

“It is important to recognize that there is no evidence whatsoever that any of the members of our community died from a drug overdose caused by the fentanyl sold by Mr. Kirton,” wrote Hewson. “At the same time, it is impossible to ignore the number of Vernon residents who have died from drug overdoses in recent months.

“The numbers bear out what has been clear for some time. The introduction of fentanyl into our community has led to a rapid increase in the number of deaths by drug overdose. What the numbers do not show is that the dead are our neighbours, and that every one of them had a circle of friends and family just like Mr. Kirton’s. Their loss is our loss.”

Kirton was sentenced to two years less a day, followed by 12 months of probation during which he must abide by a number of conditions.