YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man connected to a suspected cocaine trafficking ring was sentenced to 2.5 years in jail Wednesday.

Michael Fraser was convicted on two charges, one of which was laid in the RCMP's Project Gunship raid in 2005.

The Gunship charge was conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Fraser, 53, was also sentenced for an unrelated charge of public mischief.

The mischief charge stemmed from "reporting a non-existent crime," according to NWT Supreme Court Chief Justice Ted Richard.

Fraser and his girlfriend at the time had reported to RCMP that his girlfriend had been sexually assaulted by male RCMP officers while in custody for possession of cocaine.

"The accusations were entirely false and Mr. Fraser knew they were false," said Richard, in his summary of events.

The charge of mischief is also a misnomer, said Richard, suggesting that it means that a crime was minor or merely irritating.

"This one is not," he said. "It was a serious offence."

Fraser pleaded guilty to both charges Monday.

The fact he had originally chosen to be tried by a judge and jury and did not plead guilty immediately had to be taken into consideration when choosing a sentence, said Richard.

Usually in a jury trial if a person is found guilty, often the sentence requested by the crown prosecutor is more lengthy, said Dan Rideout, Fraser's defence lawyer.

When it came to consideration of the conspiracy to traffic cocaine charge, Richard spoke of the impact cocaine has had on Yellowknife.

Calling it "a plague that has infested the social fabric of our community," he compared drug traffickers to vultures preying on the addicted.

In an agreed statement of fact Fraser had admitted to his part in a conspiracy with an alleged cocaine supplier also charged in Project Gunship.

The statement applied to Fraser only, and has no legal bearing on the person charged with supplying.

Fraser bought cocaine and then sold it to customers and other dealers, continued Richard. RCMP gathered this evidence through telephone wiretaps and recording devices planted in the accused supplier's home.

Charges against the other Gunship suspects have not been proven in court.

Factors that could contribute to lengthening Fraser's sentence include the fact that he was on bail for the conspiracy charge when he was charged with public mischief, said Richard. Fraser's

"horrendous" criminal record was also a factor, he said.

Factors that could contribute to making it shorter include the fact that he did plead guilty before going into a lengthy and expensive trial, and that he was not one of the major players in Project Gunship.

Rideout and both Crown prosecutors had presented a joint recommendation calling for Fraser to be sentenced to 2.5 years in jail on each charge.

Richard said he found the recommendation to be "on the lenient side" but could not say it was unreasonable.

He thus sentenced Fraser to 2.5 years for each charge, to be served at the same time.