SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 25-year-old Yellowknife man was sentenced to 18 months in jail March 2 for selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.

Police arrested Jared Bilenki on Nov. 27 after they arranged a drug deal that evening. They had received information the man was selling cocaine through a dial-a-dope operation and obtained his phone number. Police texted Bilenki on the evening of his arrest, asking to purchase three grams of cocaine.

Police set up a drug deal at Harley's Hard Rock Saloon and arrested Bilenki en route to the bar just after 11 p.m. that evening.

He was in possession of 13 bags of cocaine with a total weight of 8.6 grams.

Judge Bernadette Schmaltz sent Bilenki to jail for 18 months, the maximum sentence sought by Crown attorney Shannon Smallwood. Having already served four-and-a-half months in jail awaiting sentencing, Bilenki may be required to serve the remaining 13-and-a-half months in a federal penitentiary if corrections saw it fit, said Smallwood.

The offence occurred a little over three months after Bilenki was convicted and fined $2,000 for possession of cocaine in August of last year. Schmaltz said Bilenki was dealing drugs to "support his own habit" and was "dealing at the ground level," adding the dial-a-dope operation is becoming the preferred method of selling drugs because it's an effective and efficient way of doing business and it's difficult for police to track it. Tips from the public aren't always as forthcoming as they were in this instance, and dealers can easily get rid of their cell phones.

Schmaltz said this case reflects the continuing problems with drug use in Yellowknife and across the territory.

"Trafficking cocaine continues to wreak havoc in our communities," she said during sentencing last week, adding "it preys on vulnerable people" and makes everyone susceptible to "spin-off crimes."

"Those profits (made from dealing cocaine) must blind people to the consequences," she said.

Serge Petitpas, Bilenki's attorney, sought 10 to 12 months for his client, but Schmaltz said she needed to show the community that drug traffickers were being dealt with in a way to deter others from getting involved in it, pointing out "they have to know the risk they are taking."

The judge delivered stern words about the problems people like Bilenki are creating in Yellowknife, saying "trafficking of illicit drugs is the farthest thing from a victimless crime."

She mentioned the related crimes committed because of the use and abuse of drugs and the "parasitic lifestyle" drug dealing entails.