Former city man pleads guilty to drug possession

A former Lethbridge man caught in a drug investigation earlier this year has pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge but he won’t be sentenced until next year.

Arthur Doyle Cranston of Medicine Hat pleaded guilty Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court to drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, and even though facts were read out in court, sentencing was adjourned until after he completes an addictions treatment program.

During Thursday’s hearing, for which Cranston appeared in person, Federal Crown prosecutor Mark Klassen explained Lethbridge police were watching another man in relation to a drug trafficking investigation in the city March 18 when they saw Cranston exit a vehicle and get into a vehicle belonging to the suspect police were watching. When Cranston left that vehicle shortly afterward and returned to the vehicle in which he arrived, he was carrying a bag over his shoulder.

Police followed the vehicle Cranston was in and over a period of about 25 minutes observed what appeared to be three drug transactions. After the vehicle pulled up to a residence, police moved in and arrested Cranston and the driver.

Cranston, Klassen told court, put a baggie of cocaine in his mouth “and attempted to chew it and swallow it.” Police were able to recover 12.8 grams of crack cocaine, however, and seize two cellphones and $260 cash.

Defence agreed with most of the facts read by the Crown, but told court Cranston admits to only one drug transaction. He asked that sentencing be adjourned so Cranston could first enter the treatment program in January.

The matter returns to court Jan. 17, at which time a sentencing date will like be scheduled. Cranston’s brother, Guy, who the Crown alleges was the driver of the vehicle in which Cranston was a passenger, is also charged with drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. Defence said the resolution of Cranston’s case will likely determine what happens to his brother.