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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife man has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison following a Jan. 20 drug bust when police netted an estimated $750,000 worth of crack cocaine, cocaine and marijuana.

Alex Smith: Received 4.5 years in prison. - photo courtesy of Facebook

Alexander Mackenzie Smith, 33, pleaded guilty in Supreme Court Monday to one charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and one charge of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

In light of the conviction, Crown prosecutor Glen Boyd said charges are being stayed against Smith's two co-accused, Brittany Beaulieu and Justin Wanderingspirit, meaning the Crown will not prosecute at this time.

"Based on the resolution from Mr. Smith, we've decided not to proceed with the charges," Boyd told Yellowknifer after the sentencing.

Beaulieu and Wanderingspirit faced the same charges as Smith.

Supreme Court Justice Virginia Schuler said Smith's sentence, issued yesterday morning, should send a message to everyone involved in the Yellowknife drug trade.

"Maybe someday it will sink in for Mr. Smith and others involved in the drug trade, the affect that their greed has on others," Schuler told the court.

The ruling could have been more severe, however, Smith was given credit for making an early guilty plea and saving the court and witnesses the resources and time needed for a trial, the judge acknowledged.

Boyd said the Crown is very pleased with the outcome in the Smith case.

"In this jurisdiction, that's a very substantial sentence," he said.

Because he has already spent six months in jail while his case went through court, Smith has four years left in his jail term. Schuler also imposed a 10-year firearms ban and ordered Smith's DNA be placed in a national criminal database.

Boyd and Smith's lawyer, Jamel Chadi, presented the court with a joint submission on Monday, agreeing on facts of the case but Boyd wanted a sentence of no less than five years while Chadi was seeking four years for his client.

The drug bust occurred on Thursday, Jan. 19, when a police surveillance team observed Smith enter an apartment twice in the Range Lake area with a full, dark-coloured duffel bag and accompanied by another man. The following day, RCMP obtained a warrant for the apartment in question, where they found a residence that was not equipped for human habitation. Boyd gave the example of the apartment's kitchen, where police found no dishes or food - only a weigh scale with cocaine residue, a vacuum sealer, hundreds of small plastic bags and a pot that seemed to have been used for processing cocaine.

Police then located 17.5 kg of marijuana and 2.5 kg of cocaine and crack cocaine in the apartment on Jan. 20. The estimated Yellowknife street value of these drugs is $350,000 for the pot and up to $400,000 for the cocaine, Boyd said.

It's believed to be the largest single seizure of drugs in the NWT, Boyd said.

On Jan. 27, police obtained a search warrant for Smith's Yellowknife residence, which appeared to have been recently vacated. After receiving a tip that Smith had been seen at a Yellowknife hotel, police located their suspect, who was in the process of checking out with a suitcase of clothes and toiletries. Smith was then arrested without incident.

The offender, who was in a college business program when he was arrested, observed the court proceedings quietly, dressed in a white-and-blue vertically striped shirt and blue jeans.

When asked if he had anything to say to the court, Smith took the opportunity to apologize.

"I'm truly sorry and I deeply regret everything that's happened up to this point," he said. "I'm trying to start a new life."

While delivering the sentence, Schuler mentioned the high number of crack-cocaine related violent crimes in Yellowknife that have come before the court over the years. Specifically, she spoke of a young woman that Schuler herself sentenced within the last few years, who was pregnant and had swallowed bags of crack cocaine in an attempt to avoid being arrested.

"These are the types of sad, pathetic and even horrific circumstances that people in the drug trade bring on their community," the judge said.

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