'Lieutenant' served as enforcer in drug network run by aunt, Winnipeg court hears

The nephew of a woman at the centre of a Winnipeg drug network was a "lieutenant" in his aunt's operation who used violence to collect payments and keep underlings in line, court heard at his sentencing hearing Wednesday 

Shane Guiboche, 40, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his integral role in the operation led by his aunt, Sandra Guiboche.

Earlier this fall, she admitted to being the head of a drug trafficking organization, headquartered at several homes she owned in Point Douglas, that she helped build over the course of several years.

Her September guilty plea followed an investigation by the Winnipeg Police Service called Project Matriarch, which started three years earlier and lasted five months.

It led to more than two dozen arrests in 2021 and $2.3 million in property and evidence being seized.

Shane Guiboche pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to possess a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. 

At his sentencing Wednesday, federal Crown prosecutor Kate Henley told the court Shane was an enforcer for his aunt's network and was often responsible for collecting money she was owed by sellers or others involved with the trafficking operation. 

That was demonstrated during several phone conversations intercepted by police, where Shane was heard either threatening someone or talking about using violence, court heard. 

In multiple phone conversations, Sandra was heard threatening to send Shane to beat someone up, Henley told the court. 

"These aren't empty words.… Shane is attending these residences and threatening these individuals," Henley said. 

In a text conversation from January 2021, Shane wrote that he was going to "pay someone to break his legs." 

"I can't be the only one to get my hands dirty all the time," he wrote in another text from around the same time, court heard. 

Loyalty to aunt 

Shane was close with his aunt from a young age, feeling that she was the only family he could count on as a child, court was told.

He also lived with her as a teenager after he served time in custody for a robbery conviction, Henley told the court. 

Because of this, Shane has had a strong sense of loyalty and appreciation for Sandra.

His childhood was a difficult one, and he was placed in foster care at a young age until he went to live with his grandmother. However, they had a strained relationship, and he did not go back to live with her after his first conviction, court heard. 

With a Grade 10 education and no formal employment history, Shane has mostly relied on drug trafficking to support himself and five children, his sentencing hearing was told.

That's led to a lengthy criminal record, with a total of 48 convictions and two prior stints in prison as an adult.

Though he struggled with addiction in the past, he hasn't used drugs since 2016 and didn't frequent a Lisgar Avenue home, owned by Sandra, that was dubbed the "crack shack" and had high rates of activity during the five months police were investigating her operation, court heard.

The Crown initially wanted an eight-year prison sentence for Shane, given his long record and the key role he played in the drug trafficking network.

But prosecutors reached a joint recommendation of seven years, less time served, with his defence lawyer, Taralee Walker.

That recommended sentence was accepted by Court of King's Bench Justice Vic Toews, who had earlier said he wouldn't accept anything lower than the six-year custodial sentence he'd recently given Trenton Smith, one of Shane's co-accused. 

Toews said he was concerned that Shane was higher up in the trafficking operation, and deserved a longer sentence because of that. 

Sandra Guiboche is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2024. 

Federal Crown prosecutors told the court Wednesday they intend to seek a 10-year prison sentence for her.