Winnipeg man who was cocaine courier gets 2 years for trafficking

Loved ones wept as a Winnipeg man caught with baggies of cocaine in a rental car two summers ago was sentenced Tuesday to two years behind bars.

Delano Wilson, 22, was given a one-year licence suspension and a two-year prison sentence by Court of Queen's Bench Justice James Edmond for possession of a drug for the purpose of trafficking. A charge of possessing the proceeds of crime was stayed.

"Good luck, Mr. Wilson. I hope you stay away from being involved in drugs in the future and take care of your family," Edmond said, a short time before a tearful Wilson hugged his wife and baby and said goodbye to about 10 friends and family as a sheriff escorted him out of court.

Court heard Wilson pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking charge in May, and the Crown dropped charges against his wife.

Winnipeg police pulled over Wilson, then 20, and his wife in a rental car on July 29, 2016, during a routine traffic stop.

Crown attorney Jeremy Akerstream said police noticed a lot of $5 bills in Wilson's wife's wallet and saw a "big chunk of crack" cocaine on the floor of the car near Wilson's foot.

A subsequent search of the vehicle yielded about $900 cash and three separate baggies of crack cocaine totalling about three ounces — enough to warrant a three- to six-year prison sentence, Akerstream said.

But the Crown and defence lawyer Kristen Jones settled on two years instead, and the judge agreed, based on testimony during a hearing in May by a drug trafficking expert with the Winnipeg police.

Street-level operation

That expert said the nature of the loose crack cocaine and wrapped baggies suggested Wilson was acting as a courier and delivering the drug to dealers who would then break it down and sell it on the street.

Wilson likely was involved in a street-level operation, so a request for a sentence in the three- to six-year range, reserved for mid-level operations, was dropped by the Crown, Akerstream said.

Edmond said two years is a fit and reasonable sentence in light of the circumstances, which include the fact that Wilson has denounced the unlawful behaviour and had no prior convictions.

Wilson was a passenger in a vehicle with two other men pulled over on Sept. 19, 2016 — just two months after he was pulled over with his wife — and arrested in the rural municipality of St. Clements on similar trafficking charges.

The Crown attorney in that case stayed all charges against Wilson.

Court heard Wilson, who is a Canadian citizen who came with family from Jamaica to Canada in 2006, worked in landscaping during the summer to save up money for his newborn and wife, who is currently on maternity leave.

He previously completed some post-secondary education in carpentry and plans to pursue it further either while he is in prison or afterward, court heard Tuesday. 

"Let's hope that you'll have an opportunity once you're released, and also once you're in custody, to receive counselling so you wont reoffend," Edmond said.

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