Yellowknife dial-a-dope dealer could face 5 years in jail

A mid-level dealer in Yellowknife's dial-a-dope drug ring could face five years in prison.

Bonita Bohnet, 39, was charged in April 2016 with five drug related offences. She pleaded guilty to two of those charges — conspiracy to traffic cocaine and trafficking fentanyl — on Oct. 16, 2017. The other charges have been stayed.

Crown prosecutor Duane Praught argued Bohnet should serve five years in prison for those crimes, with 13 days credit for time served.

According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court Tuesday morning, Bohnet was one of the primary phone operators in a large-scale dial-a-dope drug network. She worked under the direction of the organization's head, Norman Hache.

Hache and more than a dozen others were swept up in an 11-month RCMP drug investigation dubbed "Green Manalishi." As a result of this investigation, police seized 1,200 fentanyl pills, two kilograms of cocaine, 11 litres of liquid codeine, $75,000 in cash and several guns.

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Hache's network moved eight to nine ounces of cocaine per day in Yellowknife and Fort Resolution, according to the agreed statement of facts.

Bohnet was arrested April 14, 2016 while departing Hache's residence. She was found with 12.9 grams of cocaine, 27.7 grams of psilocybin, $380 in Canadian currency and four phones in her possession.

Praught argued Bohnet's extensive criminal record and the level of influence she held within the drug ring, among other factors, support a five-year sentence.

"It was greed, pure and simple," said Praught of Bohnet's motivations.

Defence argues addiction at root of problem

Defence lawyer Peter Harte asked that Bohnet be handed a four-year sentence.

He argued Bohnet wasn't acting out of greed, but was a victim of undiagnosed addictions and mental-health disorders.

Harte referenced Bohnet's Métis descent and mental health issues to suggest the N.W.T. court system focus on rehabilitation in sentencing.

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"If the government eliminates the market for what is being sold, that eliminates the crime," he told N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Karan Shaner.

Self-medicating

A visibly shaking Bohnet expressed remorse for her actions, gratitude for addictions treatment she has received and hope that she will be able to continue recovery in jail.

She described coming to the revelation while she was in treatment in Alberta that she had been self-medicating for undiagnosed mental health issues before she was caught.

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"When I was happy, I took cocaine," Bohnet told the court. "When I was sad, I took fentanyl."

Bohnet said she is now diagnosed with anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, cocaine-use disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She says through research she's learned people with undiagnosed ADHD have a one in four chance of developing a cocaine addiction.

"How did I make it so long without anybody asking about my mental health?" she asked. She said that once finished her treatment in Alberta, she put her name on a "very long" wait list to access counselling in the N.W.T.

​In the two years she has been on bail, Bohnet told the court she has maintained employment, regularly practises yoga and meditation, goes to healing workshops, volunteers in the community, has returned to her love of painting, and is working on healing broken family relationships.

She told the court she wants to continue healing in prison.

Shaner said she will hand down her sentence at a later date.