Known drug dealer gets one year in jail
Woman with lengthy criminal history credited 315 days
for time served; daughter still on trial
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 1, 2014
HAY RIVER
A notorious drug dealer has about two months of jail time left after a territorial court judge sentenced her to one year in custody, minus time served.
Rachel Martel was sentenced last week to 12 months in jail by judge Garth Malakoe. She was credited 315 days for time served in remand custody, leaving her with around two months left to serve.
The mother of three pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking in a controlled substance as well a breaching the conditions of her release by being intoxicated following a drug raid on a residence at 2461 Woodland Dr. in April.
Martel was previously sentenced to one year in jail in 2008 for trafficking crack cocaine after she was caught selling the drug to undercover police officers.
It was outside Martel's home at 55 Woodland Dr. in 2007 that RCMP Const. Christopher Worden was shot to death by an Alberta man, Emrah Bulatci. Bulatci was leaving Martel's house when he was approached by the officer.
Another man arrested in April's drug raid, Travis Guild, was convicted of possession of a controlled substance, as well as unsafe storage of a firearm and obstructing an officer, for which he was sentenced to one day in custody and a $1,500 fine.
Angel Martel, Rachel Martel's 21-year-old daughter, is also facing charges of drug trafficking related to the April raid. Her trial is ongoing.
RCMP Const. Steve Beck testified in court Nov. 19 during Angel Martel's trial that the search he and fellow RCMP officers conducted the night of April 24 turned up drugs and firearms, a large amount of cash, and other items associated with the illicit drug trade.
"Any time I do a search, I begin at one of the room and work my way through from floor to ceiling," Beck told the court, going on to describe what he found at the residence.
He said he and other officers present found and seized a small scale, a grinder with marijuana residue, as well as a purse - belonging to Angel Martel - containing a large amount of cash, as well as bundled rocks of crack cocaine and powdered cocaine.
Beck described the scene when officers first entered the trailer home, in which Rachel and Angel Martel were sitting in the living room, along with an unnamed sleeping male who is not facing any charges as a result of the search.
Detachment commander Cpl. Greg Morrow said he is pleased with the convictions thus far.
"We're continuing to hold drug traffickers accountable in our town," he said.
"This case was the culmination of a lot of hard work and effort on the part of our officers and resulted in the removal and conviction of drug traffickers in our community."
Morrow calls the convictions a major win for his team.
"We can measure what they were given in court as punishment," he said. "But the true measure of our success is the positive effects of not having had drug traffickers on the streets."
