Erika Sherk
Northern News Services
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A man arrested in 2005 during the Project Gunship drug raid pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and mischief.

Michael Fraser, 53, will be sentenced in Territorial Supreme Court today by Chief Justice Ted Richard.

He was charged in October 2005 after police raided three businesses and four homes and arrested 20 people. Fraser was one of 11 people charged in connection with what police say was a cocaine smuggling ring. The bust led to the closure of the Right Spot pub.

The public mischief charge was for making false criminal allegations against police officers, according to Crown prosecutor Stephen Hinkley.

According to an agreed statement of facts entered in court, Fraser and his girlfriend filed a complaint with Yellowknife RCMP on June 28, 2005, saying that she had been sexually assaulted by male RCMP officers while in custody in January 2005.

In the complaint, Fraser's girlfriend also said that RCMP officers had asked her to sit naked in a chair while they searched her house.

According to court documents, an RCMP investigation concluded that the allegations were not true.

Two weeks later, the woman admitted to RCMP that the complaint was false. In court Monday, Fraser admitted that he had known it was false all along.

Crown counsel and Fraser's defence lawyer have submitted a joint statement requesting a sentence of 2.5 years.