A Colwood man arrested after he got off the ferry two years ago with a pound of cocaine, 10 ounces of crystal meth and a prohibited Colt handgun has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Ryan Andrew Fletcher, 27, was convicted of possession of cocaine and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a prohibited, restricted weapon without a licence, and being in possession of that weapon when prohibited by an order of the court. All of the offences took place on July 19, 2012.
At the sentencing hearing Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court, Justice Robert Johnston found Fletcher and his co-accused were arrested after making a “yo-yo trip” on the ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen. They drove to the end of the causeway and stopped at a gas station. Before long, another car pulled up and two men got out.
Fletcher met them. One of the men carried a white shopping bag that he put into the open trunk of Fletcher’s car. A black bag was taken out of the trunk by one of the men.
“That had all the earmarks of a sales transaction or transfer,” Johnston said.
Fletcher and his driver were stopped by police after the return trip to Swartz Bay.
Police found 426 grams of cocaine worth $24,000 and 279 grams of crystal meth worth $14,000 in the white shopping bag. They also found the Colt handgun and a magazine designed to hold bullets for it. Bullets were found separately in a sock.
Johnston accepted Fletcher’s explanation that he was contracted by a local drug dealer to pick up the dealer’s drugs.
Although Johnston found Fletcher knew what was in the bag, he accepted that the contents were not Fletcher’s. No one saw Fletcher examine the bag or look into it, he said.
“That suggests to me it wasn’t his money. It suggests to me it wasn’t his transaction. He was simply there to pick up what was being couriered,” Johnston said. “Mr. Fletcher was a courier.”
Denunciation and deterrence must be the driving factor in sentencing, the judge said.
He found the combination of drugs and guns to be an aggravating factor. Also aggravating was Fletcher’s possession of a prohibited weapon when he was prohibited from possessing any weapons. A previous conviction for possession for the purpose of trafficking and Fletcher’s criminal record for theft and possession of stolen property — a pattern common with drug addiction — is also aggravating, Johnston found.
Glowing, warm, supportive letters written by Fletcher’s family were a mitigating factor.
Johnston noted that Fletcher experienced an unsettled childhood and lacked a significant male role model.
“He experienced revolving disappointment as a child when his father was sickly, not carrying through with promised appearances and contacts.”
Fletcher did well until his teenage years, when he went off the rails and became addicted to drugs, said the judge. Johnston also noted that Fletcher was born with one hand and has difficulty maintaining employment. He has also witnessed the deaths of friends and family members in recent years.
Johnston handed Fletcher two-year sentences on the drug charges, which are to be served concurrently, and a one-year concurrent sentence for possession of the handgun.
But he imposed a consecutive eight-month sentence on possessing the gun while prohibited by the court. “It is bad enough to be in possession of a prohibited restricted weapon but it is much worse to have that in one’s possession when an order of the court has prohibited it,” Johnston said.
