An Estevan man was sentenced to 15 months in prison Monday for possession for the purpose of trafficking 1.47 grams of cocaine.
Sean Thomas Robert Brown was sentenced as part of a joint submission between the Crown and defence.
Crown prosecutor Derek Davidson read out the agreed statement of facts. RCMP officers were in the railyard in the centre of Estevan, observing a nearby drinking establishment on March 2, 2019.
They saw a silver one-tonne truck near the bar and saw three men in the truck hunched over the centre console. Police approached the vehicle and saw white powder inside. That powder eventually tested positive for cocaine.
Two “dime bags” were seized, one in one of the men’s pockets, and another on the ground near the truck. A further $580 were seized as the proceeds of selling cocaine.
The joint submission was for a 15-month sentence minus one day for time served. A forfeiture order was made for the items seized, and a firearms prohibition was imposed for 10 years. A further lifetime prohibition on restricted weapons was also imposed.
Defence attorney Joelle Graham said Brown was 26 years old and worked at a local service rig company as a supervisor/manager. He used to work as a medic in Oxbow. He and his wife had been together since 2010, and they were married in 2016. They had three young children and his wife was pregnant with their fourth.
“Mr. Brown was partying quite heavily at this point in his life,” she said.
Graham said it was “very low-level trafficking,” enough to support his own drug use. She said Brown took responsibility and has been totally sober since.
“He will lose his job and miss the birth of his fourth child,” she said.
She added there were “multiple Charter breeches” and that those Charter of Rights issues could have been raised in the case, but they will not be as part of a quid pro quo for concessions from the Crown.
Davidson added, “Mr. Brown admitted to police he was selling up to $1,000 a week of cocaine.”
Judge Michelle Brass accepted the joint submission and sentenced Brown according to its terms.
