Man spirals into meth addiction, lands in prison

Matthew David LeBlanc, 29, of Fredericton, incarcerated for drug trafficking, gun offences, stolen-property crimes and many more

Life was going well for Matthew David LeBlanc up until a couple of years ago, with a solid job, a roof over his head and a stable relationship.

But mourning his beloved dog and being blindsided by a break-up, court heard Tuesday, he spiralled into a life of meth addiction and crime to fuel his habit.

LeBlanc, 29, of Fredericton, appeared in custody in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday for sentencing, having previously admitted to a long list of criminal offences committed over the course of several months last year.

Matthew David LeBlanc (Photo: Facebook)

He first ran afoul of police May 6, said prosecutor Patricia Gillett, who noted that Fredericton officers happened upon a black Ford F150 in a northside parking lot with a window smashed out.

The truck - which had been reported as stolen from Bilijk (Kingsclear) First Nation - was running but stopped, court heard, and LeBlanc was at the wheel, slumped over in the driver’s seat. He was asleep, Gillett said, noting it took a lot of effort on the officers’ part to rouse him.

“He eventually woke up and the vehicle was turned off,” she said.

LeBlanc was unsteady on his feet and in a daze, the prosecutor said, and he had a set of brass knuckles - a prohibited weapon - in his back pocket.

In the truck were $3,500 in meth pills and $1,000 in cash, court heard, and LeBlanc was charged with possession of the stolen truck, possession of meth for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a prohibited weapon, among other offences.

Guns and ammo found

He encountered police again Sept. 1 when officers spotted a white Dodge Ram on Fredericton’s north side that displayed a licence plate that didn’t come back as belonging on that vehicle, the prosecutor said.

LeBlanc was driving, she said, and officers observed him park at Walmart and go inside. They queried his name in an online database, court heard.

“He was flagged on [the Canadian Police Information Centre system] as possibly armed and dangerous,” Gillett said.

As a result, she said, officers checked out the Dodge Ram and spotted a rifle case. They examined the case out of concern for public safety, the prosecutor said, and discovered two semi-automatic rifles and several high-capacity ammo magazines, some of which were loaded.

LeBlanc and the woman he was with were arrested when they emerged from the store, court heard, and he refused to provide any information about the guns or the stolen licence plate on the Ram.

Gillett said the defendant just kept repeating “he wasn’t a rat.”

Police also found a stolen driver’s licence and a stolen credit card at that time, she said. 

Subsequently, police in the capital region received a report of a 2020 Dodge Ram truck that was stolen in the Red Bank area near Miramichi, the prosecutor said, and the GPS data from the vehicle indicated it was at a Douglas address.

There was an urgency to the call, court heard, because two secured firearms were in the truck when it was stolen - one pump-action shotgun and a long gun.

Gillett said police found the vehicle near the reported address, but along a trail by a power-line structure. A tire was seriously damaged, court heard, and there was damage to the front end of the truck as well.

Once again, the prosecutor said, officers found LeBlanc at the wheel, sound asleep. The guns were gone, she said, and LeBlanc was arrested again for possessing stolen property and breaching conditions of a release order.

LeBlanc was released from custody yet again, court heard, and among the conditions he had to follow was to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet and to reside at an address on Highway 8 in New Bandon, about 25 kilometres east of Bathurst.

Gillett said the monitoring centre received an alert Dec. 5 that the bracelet battery had died, and he had failed to contact the centre or respond to phone calls.

Police checked at the New Bandon address and discovered LeBlanc wasn’t there, court heard, leading to him being charged with three breaches of his release order.

Court also heard that LeBlanc violated conditions of an undertaking and release orders on multiple occasions in the months before by failing to attend court and violating his curfew/residency requirements on more than one occasion.

Gillett said several of the offences were quite serious - notably, the meth-possession crime and the gun charges - and asked the court to impose an overall sentence of 3½ years in prison, less credit for time spent on remand.

Drug use driven by loss

Defence lawyer Michael Mallory said there are a number of mitigating factors in LeBlanc’s case, such as his guilty pleas, remorse and his lack of any kind of a prior criminal record.

He said LeBlanc was living a productive life for years, and his pre-sentence report shows he’s a hard worker and had stable employment, home and relationship.

Courtroom No. 5 in the Justice Building in downtown Fredericton. (Photo: Don MacPherson/The Fredericton Independent)

But a couple of years ago, his dog died, which was a significant blow, Mallory said, and that was exacerbated by the subsequent and sudden break-up of his long-term relationship.

In the wake of those compounded troubles, the defence lawyer said, his client started abusing crystal meth, associating with a bad crowd and spiralling out of control.

“Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation in the courts,” Mallory said.

LeBlanc acknowledges now he has addiction and anger issues, he said, but he’s motivated to get help and has solid family support.

“They know his potential, and they’re not giving up on him,” the defence lawyer said.

Mallory asked the court to consider a three-year prison sentence, reduced for remand credit. He acknowledged the crimes LeBlanc committed are serious, but argued the lesser sentence is merited “given the fact he’s a first-time offender” and that he  has a high likelihood of rehabilitation.

Judge Cameron Gunn said there were mitigating factors to consider in sentencing, such as LeBlanc’s admission of his crimes, clean prior record and mental-health issues.

Where the case took a serious turn, he said, was when LeBlanc went from being a meth addict to someone who trafficks in the insidious drug.

“You crossed the line here when you went from being a user to someone who possessed drugs for the purpose of trafficking,” the judge said.

“The weapons offence here in the [Sept. 1] case causes concern.”

Gunn imposed a global sentence of 3½ years for the many offences, to be reduced by about 7½ months to give LeBlanc the customary 1.5-to-one credit for time spent on remand. That means his prison sentence going forward is about six weeks shy of three years.

The judge also prohibited LeBlanc from possessing firearms and other weapons for 10 years following his release from prison, and ordered the guns, ammo, brass knuckles and cash seized from LeBlanc forfeited to the Crown.

Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.