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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man pleaded guilty April 16 to two counts of trafficking cocaine after he was caught in two separate stings by police - one in which his pregnant spouse swallowed crack cocaine when RCMP appeared on the scene.

Kirk Magrum, 33, was caught selling cocaine with his pregnant common-law spouse on Feb. 6, according to Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh. She said Magrum's spouse had received a phone call - "what is commonly known as dial-a-dope" - from an undercover RCMP officer investigator.

The officer requested two portions of crack cocaine and Magrum and his spouse arranged to meet the officer at the Ravenscourt condominiums parking lot at roughly 9:30 p.m. Walsh said the officer then notified an RCMP surveillance team, which moved into the area. The couple was arrested when they arrived at the scene in a vehicle, which matched the description they gave the undercover officer who called.

The woman, seven months pregnant at the time, then swallowed two grams of crack cocaine. She was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital and given a liquid to induce vomiting.

An RCMP officer "seized the crack cocaine from (the woman's) vomit," said Walsh. The woman has also been charged with trafficking.

Magrum told police he was selling because he was an addict and he owed a large drug debt. He was released at 8:49 a.m. the next day.

Days later, on Feb. 13, Magrum was again arrested for trafficking after RCMP observed a drug transaction between him and another man outside of After 8 Billiards.

Walsh said Magrum was found to be in possession of 16.9 grams of crack cocaine, a scale, knife and tray with drug residue on them, a "high quantity of cash" and sandwich bags.

He told police he had to pay off his debt, which he said was approximately $10,000. Magrum has been in custody awaiting sentencing since this arrest.

Defence lawyer Tom Boyd told the court Magrum has "certainly gone into a steep slide since he began using crack cocaine," and said his client's criminal record didn't start until age 25.

He also said the North Slave Correctional Centre has been crowded during the entire time Magrum has been in custody there.

Magrum addressed the court with a shaky voice and said he wants to become a good father and "once again a productive member of society."

"I'm grateful for my sobriety ... I'm sorry for the headache I've caused Yellowknifers."

Walsh requested a sentence of two years less a day for the two trafficking charges and one count of possession of property obtained by a crime, while Boyd asked for one year.

Judge Brian Bruser will hand down his sentence on April 24.

Magrum's spouse will face a judge and jury trial at a yet to be determined date for trafficking crack cocaine.