Fentanyl trafficking warrants jail term: Prosecutor
A 26-year-old man who said he’s never used illicit drugs faces a jail term of up to five years after he pleaded guilty to trafficking fentanyl from his Niagara Falls home.
In Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Thursday, federal prosecutor Darren Anger said Jorge Santos Mendez’s decision to sell fentanyl patches, legally prescribed to his mother’s boyfriend, was based solely on personal gain and warranted a jail sentence of between four and five years.
“Addiction was not a motivating factor in committing the offence,” he told Judge Peter Wilkie.
Anger said trafficking of the powerful opioid leads to the “destruction of lives and death of others” and the defendant exploited the weakness and vulnerability of others in order to make money.
The defendant, who pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, apologized for his actions saying, at the time, he didn’t realize “the harm I was causing others.”
Defence lawyer Christopher Raimondo asked the judge to consider a jail term of eight to 12 months, saying the defendant pleaded guilty to the offence and has shown remorse for his actions.
The judge will deliver his decision Jan. 25.
In April 2016, court was told, Niagara Regional Police launched an investigation into suspected drug trafficking at a home on Ryerson Crescent.
A woman who visited the home was subsequently stopped by police and told authorities she had been purchasing fentanyl patches from the defendant for the past eight months.
Police executed a search warrant at the home and seized 15 patches.
The mother’s boyfriend, a 54-year-old Welland man, pleaded guilty to the same offence and is scheduled to be sentenced in January.
Court was told the 52-year-old mother, who faces a similar charge as her son, also had a legal prescription for fentanyl.
“I would characterize it as a family business,” Anger told the judge, adding the Crown plans to withdraw the charge against the mother once the son is sentenced.