Trafficker caught in sting gets two-year sentence

A man convicted of drug trafficking after an undercover sting involving a controversial police agent has been sentenced to just under two years in jail.

Douglas Lawrence Ketch was found guilty of drug trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking in October.

The 50-year-old was the target of an RCMP sting operation called project E-Piracy which involved a convicted criminal turned police agent named Matthew Holland, who sold Ketch one kilogram of cocaine in a Langford parking lot in April 2014.

Holland, a Victoria man with convictions for manslaughter, home invasion robberies, property crimes and drug offences, was paid about $130,000 by the RCMP for his role in the 10-month operation.

Ketch’s defence lawyer Michael Mulligan had argued Ketch sold the cocaine under duress to Holland, who was known to have a violent reputation. He said Ketch was the victim of entrapment by the RCMP. A B.C. Supreme Court justice rejected both of those submissions.

Crown prosecutors characterized Ketch as a sophisticated offender who is tapped into the drug world. In court, federal prosecutor John Walker said Ketch had the capacity to produce significant quantities of drugs in a businesslike fashion and knew enough to encrypt his phone communication.

The defence had asked for a sentence of 18 months while the Crown sought a four-year jail term.

In imposing a sentence of two years less a day, Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten weighed the seriousness of the offence with the fact that Ketch has no criminal record and struggles with a brain injury.

Ketch, who lives in the Nanaimo area, is married with three sons, ages 18, 14 and seven.

Character references provided to DeWitt-Van Oosten stated that Ketch is a caring father who is active in his children’s lives. He’s involved in the community as a baseball and hockey coach and youth mentor, the references stated.

Ketch was in a serious car crash on March 15, 2003, which left him with a significant head injury.

The brain injury has prevented Ketch, trained in wood joinery and fine carpentry, from returning to work.

His loved ones told the court that the car crash changed Ketch, making him susceptible to poor judgment and being impulsive.

However, Ketch’s “head injury does not excuse his behaviour; it did not render him incapable of appreciating the nature of what he was doing; or prevent him from exercising free will and choosing whether to engage with Matthew Holland,” DeWitt-Van Oosten wrote in her decision.

DeWitt-Van Oosten acknowledged that the delay between the offences and sentencing put stress on Ketch and particularly on his wife, who had to be hospitalized three times.

The RCMP waited 16 months to charge Ketch after the sting operation. He was released on bail during the trial proceedings.

The sentence of two years less a day means that Ketch can serve the jail sentence in a provincial jail on Vancouver Island, allowing him to be close to his family, Mulligan said.

“Receiving any period of time in custody and taking you away from your children is a serious matter,” he said.