Crime Correspondent: Nova Scotia

Krystle

Three bricks of the drug with a total weight of 3,352 grams were seized in a room at the Cambridge Suites, Monday night, after police executed a search warrant. The amount the drug carries an estimated street value of $670,000, more than double the amount of the police’s largest seizure of $250,000 last week. “This has been an ongoing investigation that the street crime unit has been undertaking for the last couple of months in regards to cocaine, its distribution and its source locations,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Jobe. “We figure this will have a substantial impact on the streets, but it’s not long-term, we have to keep up.” Four males and one female were arrested; one from Sydney, three from Quebec and one from Toronto. Police reported Tuesday that another suspect in the case remains at large. Five people appeared in provincial court Tuesday charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The five are: Charles Matthew Cook, 22, George Street, Sydney; Rejean Arsenault, 52, Pointe Fortune, Que.; Robert Vezina, 58, LaSalle, Que.; Michael Giordano, 41, Saint-Lazare, Que.; and Krystle Dawn Mitchelitis, 19, Toronto. Federal prosecutor David Iannetti opposed the release of the five who were remanded into custody until Thursday for bail hearings for Giordano, Cook and Mitchelitis and status hearings for Arsenault and Vezina, who have asked for bail hearings in French. Arsenault will be represented by a lawyer from Quebec. While the investigation continues, Chief Dave Wilson expressed concerns the drugs may be tied to organized crime. “My best guess is yes,” said Wilson, when asked about the operation being the work of organized crime. “Until we complete the investigation we won’t know for sure. “I think it’s a possibility because there are so many Cape Bretoners right now going to work transient wise, so they are all across the country and they are making these contacts, contacts with people who are working in the criminal world and coming back here they have a connection to bring the stuff in.” With two substantial seizures in the past seven days, Jobe said the months of work by the street crime unit is beginning to show great successes. “This is all based on investigative techniques and getting into the bowels of the drug trade,” he said. “We’ve started off at the street level, now the officers have targeted the major seizures at the higher level and we will continue.” The large amount of cocaine being seized by police continues to support the theory that the drug has become the drug of choice in Cape Breton, a trend which bothers Jobe. “Since I’ve been here I’ve seen cocaine become the drug of choice and hashish is almost non-existent on the street today as opposed to a number of years ago when (hashish) was the drug of choice,” said Jobe. “We’re living in an advanced age and we’ve seen the OxyContin age when that was a very serious drug on the street. We’ve now gone to cocaine and my only fear is what’s coming next.”

Krystle Dawn Mitchelitis,Charles Matthew Cook,Rejean Arsenault,Robert Vezina charged with possession of cocaine

Three bricks of the drug with a total weight of 3,352 grams were seized in a room at the Cambridge Suites, Monday night, after police execut...

Ricky

Ricky Simpson, 58,"Mr. Simpson is in an unusual position, because unlike other people engaged in the drug trade, he was not engaged in trafficking for financial gain," Judge Beaton said Monday. "He was engaged in an altruistic activity and was firm in his belief that he was helping others won’t spend any time behind bars because Judge Carole Beaton said the time he spent in custody after his November arrest was enough of a deterrent. "If he and others do not get the message, after spending the equivalent of eight days in jail, that trafficking is against the law, I’m doubtful that adding 20 more days as suggested by the Crown would be any more of a deterrent," Judge Beaton said Monday as she sentenced Mr. Simpson on one charge of trafficking marijuana oil. Outside court after his sentencing, Mr. Simpson reiterated his intention to leave Canada. He said he can’t live in a country that persecutes and prosecutes him for believing that marijuana is a miracle cure."I’m heading for South America," he said. "I’m looking at moving to either Ecuador, Peru or Brazil. Those are countries where the government won’t prosecute me and where I can be free to make the (marijuana) medication I require."He said he will move as soon as he can sell his two properties.The trafficking charge was laid after a woman complained to Amherst police that Mr. Simpson had dropped off a syringe full of hemp oil at her home and asked her to give it to a relative who was using the drug for medicinal purposes. The syringe was found to contain about five millilitres of marijuana oil, the equivalent of a teaspoon. His arrest came as he was awaiting sentencing on earlier charges of producing marijuana and possessing less than three kilograms of tetrahydrocannabinol for the purpose of trafficking. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the main active ingredient in marijuana.A Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury found Mr. Simpson guilty of those charges in September and Justice Felix Cacchione sentenced him in February to a $2,000 fine and one day in jail, considered served by his appearance in court that day.Mr. Simpson maintained during his Supreme Court trial that he grew the marijuana on his property and turned it into hemp oil to give to more than 300 patients who he strongly maintains were cured from a variety of diseases ranging from cankers to cancer.

Ricky Simpson,was engaged in an altruistic activity and was firm in his belief that he was helping others

Ricky Simpson, 58,"Mr. Simpson is in an unusual position, because unlike other people engaged in the drug trade, he was not engaged in ...

John

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for John Hardy of Ingramport after he failed to show up for trial on drug charges.But the warrant won’t be acted upon until he returns from Thailand.Mr. Hardy, 50, and David Banfield, 42, of Upper Tantallon, were to begin a four-day trial in Amherst provincial court on drug charges. But Mr. Hardy’s lawyer, Jim O’Neil, told the court his client didn’t show up because of a miscommunication between himself and Mr. Hardy."He is working in the jungles of Asia," Mr. O’Neil said. "He lost track of the trial date because he was so used to me appearing on his behalf through a designation I received from him. He thought today’s (hearing) was for a motion and not for a trial."I accept responsibility for that. It was an honestly held misunderstanding on his part."Mr. Hardy won’t be back in Canada before July 8 because that is the earliest his company is willing to fly him out, Mr. O’Neil said, asking for an adjournment.Mr. Banfield’s lawyer, Mark Knox, asked that his client’s trial be postponed as well because it was essential this client’s defence to have Mr. Hardy present for the trial."I find it difficult to understand how someone could forget their trial date," Judge Carole Beaton said. "I do not want to make light of it, but it’s akin to a student telling his teacher that the ‘dog ate my homework.’ "Judge Beaton said Mr. Hardy bore some responsibility failing to appear.His absence put Mr. Banfield in a difficult position because "it would be prejudicial to his case if we were to go ahead today" without Mr. Hardy being present, she said.The case has been delayed several times since the charges were laid in 2005, and the judge said Mr. Hardy’s absence made it difficult for the court to find time for the trial.She set Oct. 7 to 10 as the new trial dates and ordered the arrest warrant. She ordered Mr. Hardy to appear for a pretrial conference in July and told Mr. O’Neil that "feast, famine, flood or insurrection by the Queen’s enemies" had better not keep Mr. Hardy from the pretrial conference or the new court dates.Mr. Hardy and Mr. Banfield were charged in October 2005 after the RCMP caught two people working a marijuana crop in Wentworth Valley. Police subsequently searched two Wentworth properties, where more than 1,000 plants were seized.The men face charges of possessing more than three kilograms of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, producing marijuana and theft of less than $5,000 worth of electricity.

John Hardy arrest warrant after he failed to show up for trial on drug charges.

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for John Hardy of Ingramport after he failed to show up for trial on drug charges.But the warrant won...

Evan Daniel Starratt

Evan Daniel Starratt, 22, pleaded guilty Monday, Jan. 7 to trafficking in cocaine, a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Drugs and Substanc...