A Saskatoon man was sentenced to 18 months in custody after entering guilty pleas to trafficking cocaine.
Waylon Thomas MacArthur appeared in Estevan provincial court on Monday when he entered his pleas to the trafficking charges that were dealt on Oct. 16, 2009. On that day MacArthur was in Estevan, attending the Derrick Motor Hotel lounge. He approached two men who were undercover officers and asked them if they were interested in buying cocaine.
The officers bought one gram of cocaine for $100. MacArthur then came back to the officers later that night and asked if they were satisfied with the first purchase. He sold the officers another gram of cocaine for $100.
He was represented by Legal Aid lawyer Robert Grimsrud, who noted the offence was the sale of a hard drug, but it was a very small amount. Federal Crown prosecutor Stephen Dribnenki agreed it wasn't a large amount that was sold, but noted MacArthur approached two strangers only to propose the sale.
MacArthur also pleaded guilty to impaired driving, failing to appear in court and breaching a recognizance.
He was in custody following an arrest on Nov. 9. He was sentenced to time served for the charges of failing to appear in court. It's his second impaired driving conviction, but the 27-year-old's first offence came more than five years ago, so sentencing for that charge was treated as a first offence.
During that incident, MacArthur refused to give police his name, eventually providing a false identity. He pleaded guilty to obstructing justice on that charge.
The Crown and defence provided a joint submission for Judge Karl Bazin, calling for the 18-month custodial term, which Bazin accepted.
In other court proceedings, a pre-sentence report was completed as ordered in consideration of theft charges for local resident Tanya Fleury. She previously pleaded guilty to the charge, and as she was unrepresented by counsel, with the Crown seeking a custodial sentence, the report was ordered.
It outlines Fleury's past criminal history, as well as this latest incident on June 10 in which she stole about $1,000 from Pita Central, her employer at the time. The report noted that the money was used to buy drugs.
Crown prosecutor Mitch Crumley was asking for an incarceration period of between six and nine months. He said that because she was an employee of the victim, an aggravating factor was the breach of trust.
He said a community-based sentence would be inappropriate in this case, but should Bazin decide it is acceptable, Crumley suggested that the sentence be considerably longer. That wasn't what he was suggesting though.
"Incarceration would be what's necessary to deter Ms. Fleury and the community from committing these kinds of breaches of trust," said Crumley.
Fleury has attended two treatment centres since the incident, and she turned herself in to police voluntarily.
Bazin reserved his decision for Nov. 28.
***
Local resident Evan Kyle Kallis was in custody during Monday's proceedings. He was arrested late on Nov. 20 with new charges of theft, break and enter, breaching probation and brandishing a knife.
He was in the process of dealing with two other charges of possessing an controlled substance and failing to attend court. and was remanded to Dec. 1.
Darren Thompson was released from custody following a show-cause hearing on Monday. He was arrested on Nov. 20 for impaired and dangerous driving, and he has other charges that he were scheduled for trial in March 2012. His next court date is Dec. 22.
In other court news from Monday, a 14-year-old Estevan youth who faces charges of arson, break and enter, mischief, uttering threats and breaching an undertaking, pleaded not guilty to all charges on Monday. The Crown chose to proceed by indictment, which comes with more serious penalties, on the three arson charges and the break and enter charge, while proceeding summarily for the rest.
The matter was adjourned to Dec. 1, when the defence and Crown will decide which charges can be tried together and may begin setting trial dates.
