‘The business that you were in rips families apart’
Ian Keith Edwards, 24, of Fredericton, gets two years in prison after meth, handgun and stun gun found in his apartment
A judge scolded a Fredericton drug dealer Tuesday for the corrosive effects of his crimes on society as he imposed a two-year prison sentence.
Ian Keith Edwards, 24, of Lincoln Road, previously pleaded guilty to charges of possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a handgun for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, possession of a prohibited device, possession of cocaine and possession of the handgun without a licence.
He was back before Court of King’s Bench Justice Thomas Christie at the Burton Courthouse on Tuesday for sentencing.
Crown prosecutor Rodney Jordan said Fredericton Police Force officers had been conducting a drug investigation and had formed the grounds to believe that Edwards was engaged in trafficking out of a Biggs Street apartment.
They secured a search warrant, he said, and on Feb. 18, 2021, officers executed it at 157 Biggs St.
When police burst into the apartment, Jordan said, Edwards tried to flee out a back patio door but was stopped and arrested.
Officers found 128 grams of meth on a shelf in the master bedroom, court heard, and some cocaine was found on the kitchen counter and hidden in a closet.
Furthermore, the prosecutor said, officers found a handgun, though there was no ammo for it in the apartment. They also found a stun gun, a prohibited weapon.
Jordan said the prosecution and defence had negotiated a joint recommendation on sentence: two years plus a day in prison going forward.
“These are clearly serious offences,” said defence lawyer George Kalinowski.
Edwards has a limited prior criminal history, he said, but the trafficking offence was a significant step up in his record.
However, Kalinowski said, he noted there were some hurdles in the case the Crown would have had to overcome, but Edwards’ guilty pleas eliminated the need for what could have been a complex trial.
“There were a lot of potential issues,” he said, arguing the court should accept the joint recommendation given that quid pro quo and the fact that it falls within the accepted range for such crimes, albeit on the lower end.
As for Edwards’ attempt to bolt from the apartment when police executed the search warrant, Kalinowski said officers used a battering ram to breach the door, making for a loud, chaotic scene.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” the defence lawyer said of his client’s reaction.
Christie accepted the joint recommendation, agreeing that the sentence fell within the established range for such crimes for someone with no prior record for trafficking.
However, the judge impressed upon Edwards why such drug offences led to time in prison.
“I suspect there’s not a person who [meth] once and then never again,” Christie said, noting there are those who get addicted to meth and other hard drugs who lose everything, including a roof over their heads.
“The business that you were in rips families apart.”
The judge noted Edwards has a young son, and he urged the offender to consider how his choices will affect him.
Christie said Edwards has a new choice to make: whether to be a good father in the future, or to be a father that his son might not want to know.
The judge also ordered Edwards to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database, and prohibited him from possessing firearms and other weapons for 10 years following his release from prison.
He also ordered the weapons and other items seized in the search to be forfeited to the Crown.
“You’re given a chance here to smarten up, and I hope you do,” Christie told Edwards.
Edwards also appeared in Fredericton provincial court to be sentenced for other, unrelated crimes.
He’d previously pleaded guilty to Sept. 30 counts of dangerous driving and flight from police, and an Oct. 31 violation of the conditions of his release order.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc sentenced him to an additional three months in jail and prohibited him from driving for a year following his release.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
2 years means with time served and parole he will be out by Christmas. Such a joke our criminal justice system.