Drugs led to ‘fall from grace’ for former millionaire

KITCHENER — Robert Kubassek had it all.

He was the president of Stage Door Transportation, a local trucking company that drove equipment around for the Tragically Hip and U2, as well as popular shows such as “Phantom of the Opera.”

For 17 years, he made plenty of money and retired at 48.

That’s when life fell “completely off the rails,” said lawyer Hal Mattson at his client’s sentencing hearing Friday.

Mattson referred to the lyrics of the Pogues song “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” and said Kubassek, who was a millionaire, was this man.

“It’s unbelievable that someone can fall that quickly,” Mattson told Justice Craig Parry.

In April, Kubassek was arrested by Waterloo Regional Police and charged with drug trafficking in cocaine and ecstasy. He’s been in jail since.

Kubassek, 49, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Before being sentenced, Kubassek apologized from the prisoner’s box.

“I messed up,” he said as he sobbed.

Parry sentenced him to an additional two years in prison. He was given credit for time already served.

Police first came in contact with Kubassek on Jan. 4. He fell asleep as he was going through the drive-thru at McDonald’s on Hespeler Road in Cambridge.

It was just after midnight and restaurant staff called police.

Kubassek woke up and drove off. He was then seen at the drivethru at Tim Hortons on Water Street.

Police stopped his truck. Inside they found the vehicle packed with personal belongings, multiple air fresheners, two knives and a glass smoking pipe.

Police also found marijuana in bags and eight grams of crack cocaine.

The officer had to unlock the door and take Kubassek out of the truck to arrest him.

Three months later, on April 25, police were called to the Best Western hotel on Hespeler Road after a cab driver called to say he was still waiting to get paid for his fare.

Kubassek had called a taxi and the driver took him to the hotel. He went inside but didn’t pay the driver.

In the back seat of the cab, police found 250 grams of cocaine powder and 86 grams of ecstasy.

Parry described Kubassek as an “addict trafficker” who was less morally culpable because he wasn’t selling drugs solely for profit.

Craig said Kubassek’s “druginduced haze” led to his “great fall from grace.”

Kubassek’s “fall from such a height” and the public shame would likely have a greater effect on him because he had never been arrested and had no criminal record.

Court heard that Kubassek was born and raised in Plattsville and lived with his family in a Christian commune. He was home schooled.

He left the commune at 19 and worked as trucker for 12 years before starting the transportation company.

He married and had two children.

Mattson said “things went sideways” when he started taking cocaine and he got “sucked up by the people in the drug culture.”

Mattson said he lent out about $800,000 of his money to others doing drugs.

Mattson said: “The addiction completely took over.”