Delisle pleads guilty to charge related to human trafficking investigation
A Quebec man is expected to be sentenced in St. John’s this week on a charge of benefitting from the provision of sexual services, having reportedly made a last-minute plea arrangement with the Crown.
Dominic Delisle’s two-day provincial court trial was scheduled to begin Monday on that charge and three others — two counts of human trafficking and one of benefitting from trafficking — but his lawyer, Jon Noonan, asked the court for a short postponement when the matter was called.
“We filed an application to adjourn trial based on some developments that happened Friday, and I haven’t had a chance to talk to Mr. Delisle yet,” Noonan told Judge Phyllis Harris, suggesting the matter may be resolved.
Delisle attended court via Zoom from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary.
When the case was called again in the afternoon, Noonan entered a guilty plea to the benefitting from the provision of sexual services charge on behalf of his client. Delisle’s remaining charges on that file are expected to be withdrawn when the matter returns to court Feb. 28.
Delisle was arrested in September 2022 as part of a joint RCMP/ROYAL Newfoundland Constabulary investigation dubbed Project Badminton, which involves at least three other men and the seizure of more than five kilograms of pure cocaine, prescription opiate painkillers and counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl and THC, 16 pounds of cannabis, $26,000 cash and a loaded stolen semi-automatic gun, among other items.
Police say they made the arrests and seizures based on an intelligence probe related to a criminal organization reportedly engaging in human trafficking and drug trafficking between B.C. and Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Delisle is also facing charges of drug trafficking and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, which will be addressed when he returns to court this week. He is scheduled to appear in court in Corner Brook March 6 on 11 firearm-related charges, which Noonan suggested he will also seek to have transferred to St. John’s with the other offences.