Drug trafficker earns year in jail
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on September 30, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com
A 23-year-old man caught with drugs two years ago has been sent to jail for a year.
Samuel Neil Fehr was sentenced this week in Lethbridge provincial court, three months after he pleaded guilty to one count of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Following Fehr’s guilty plea last June, Federal Crown Prosecutor Mark Klassen told court police in August 2020 were trying to find Kevin Paul Rabeau, who was wanted on outstanding arrest warrants.
On Aug. 10, while police were conducting surveillance on an unrelated matter, they saw Rabeau climb into a van and drive to, and enter, a residence in the 200 block of 14 Street North. About 30 minutes later he left the residence and conducted what police believed was a drug transaction with another person nearby.
Rabeau returned to the residence, but a few minutes later he left the residence, got in a vehicle that was parked in front, and conducted another drug transaction with someone in the vehicle.
Rabeau again returned to the residence, and when he left a few minutes later, he was with Fehr. The two men rode away on bicycles, stopping in the alley behind the residence, where Rabeau conducted a third drug transaction with another person.
Rabeau and Fehr rode to the Park Place Mall, and Rabeau went into a bathroom while Fehr went to the food court.
Klassen, who was reading from an agreed statement of facts, said police entered the bathroom and arrested Rabeau as he walked out of a stall.
“Police searched the toilet stall and located 19 grams of methamphetamine and 22 grams of fentanyl in the toilet paper holder,” Klassen said.
Police also searched Rabeau and found 1.6 grams of fentanyl and $843 in cash.
Shortly afterward police arrested Fehr and found him in possession a cellphone and $350 cash. When they searched his residence later in the evening, they found 37 grams of meth in a filing cabinet. They also discovered on his cellphone numerous text messages in which Fehr had arranged drug sales.
In addition to his one-year jail sentence, Fehr will be on probation for a year after he is released from custody, during which he is not to consume drugs and alcohol and not possess any weapons. He must be assessed and receive counselling as directed by his supervisor, perform 25 hours of community service before Oct. 31, 2023, and, for the first six months of his probation, he must obey a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day. He is also prohibited from possessing weapons for 10 years.
Lethbridge lawyer Scott Hadford said during Fehr’s sentencing hearing this week, that Fehr was in and out of foster care for much of his youth and “was clearly in a bad way at the time of the offence.”
Hadford added, however, that Fehr has turned his life around, moved to another province, found employment and remains sober, all of which are signs of genuine remorse.
Rabeau pleaded guilty last October to two counts of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking meth and fentanyl in relation to the drugs found in the bathroom, and was sentenced to 42 months in prison.
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18-17
These scum know that these drugs are killing thousands of Canadians every year and the sentences need to reflect the seriousness of their crimes.
This is yet another example of there being no effective deterrents to trafficking drugs. This is premeditated! They know these drugs kill and destroy and cost the taxpayers billions of dollars annually, while destroying thousands of families.
Sentences like these are a joke! There needs to be a revamp of the judicial and penal systems!