SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife woman who tried to hide evidence from police by swallowing two "baggies" of crack-cocaine while eight months pregnant broke into tears after receiving a 19-month jail sentence Dec. 13.

In Supreme Court three days earlier, Crown prosecutor Glen Boyd said the 21-year-old woman showed a "total disregard for her unborn child" when she swallowed the drugs on Feb. 6, 2009.

This was the second of two drug arrests in less than a month for the pregnant offender.

Boyd said a Yellowknife RCMP officer, acting on a tip from an informant, called a cell phone number and arranged to meet the woman at Harley's Hard Rock Saloon to buy two rocks of crack-cocaine on Jan. 9, 2009. At 9:27 p.m., the RCMP set up surveillance outside the bar, and at 9:59 p.m., the officer arrested her for drug trafficking while she was smoking a cigarette in front of the bar. During the arrest, she informed the officer she was pregnant. The police searched her and found four pieces of crack-cocaine with a street value of $210, a small amount of marijuana and rolling papers, a cell phone and $330 in cash.

Less than a month later on Feb. 6, the same RCMP officer was again tipped off to another cell phone number involved in drug trafficking, said Boyd. The officer called the number at 9:19 p.m. and recognized her voice. The officer arranged to meet her, this time with an accomplice to buy two rocks of crack-cocaine at the Ravenscourt apartments parking lot. At 9:30 p.m., the RCMP surrounded her red jeep, and a police officer who had her on the phone heard the woman, who was eight months pregnant at the time, swallow two "baggies" of crack-cocaine before her arrest.

The RCMP recovered the crack-cocaine, valued at $250, after she vomited the drugs at Stanton Territorial Hospital. The RCMP also seized $520 in cash, a cell phone and two Black Berry phones.

Her accomplice received two years in jail on April 24, 2009, for his part in the drug operation. Boyd asked for the same sentence for the woman, who pleaded guilty to both offences on Oct. 4, 2010.

Defence lawyer Jay Bran countered with a suggested 16-month conditional sentence- a jail sentence would interrupt the progress she's made since the February 2009 arrest, he argued.

The woman is engaged to be married and employed at a restaurant. Bran said she is interested in becoming a nurse and building a strong relationship with her son, born in March 2009. The child is currently in the care of her parents.

Before Justice Virginia Schuler delivered the sentence, Bran revealed to the court the woman is pregnant again at two months. Regardless, Schuler said she was concerned that the offender hadn't severed ties with her "old friends" in the drug trade and was not convinced that a conditional sentence best fit the crime.

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