Accused Yellowknife fentanyl dealer pleads guilty on 1st day of trial

On the opening day of his trial, a Yellowknife man facing four drug charges pleaded guilty to trafficking furanyl fentanyl, a form of the deadly opioid fentanyl.

Despite the guilty plea, Darcy Oake's trial proceeded on Monday, with the prosecutor saying he intends to prove the remaining three charges — including a charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm in connection with injuries suffered by a woman who overdosed after allegedly getting drugs from Oake.

On the first day of the trial, it came out that the 25-year-old was arrested after suffering an overdose that left police and his parents thinking he had died.

"To me, as a police officer having dealt with death on a regular basis, he looked lifeless," said Const. Tyler Dunphy, one of the first police officers to arrive at Oake's father's house the morning of Nov. 25, 2016.

At the time, a string of four overdoses in the space of 48 hours had police and paramedics on high alert, trying to track down the source of what they believed to be a batch of bad drugs.

Oake's father, Dean Oake, testified it was the second time his son had overdosed that week. The first time he had passed out across the street from his Borden Drive home while walking his pet pit bull and had to be taken to hospital.

After that overdose, Oake and his parents agreed he would get treatment for his drug addiction. The first step on that journey was a trip to the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre on Nov. 25 — the morning Oake overdosed in his room.

Dunphy testified that he saw emergency medical responders inject Oake, who was 22 years old at the time, with Naloxone and heard him start to gurgle and struggle to breathe. Oake was then taken to hospital, where he recovered.

Voluntary search

After Oake was taken to hospital, his father agreed to let RCMP officers search his son's bedroom and the garage, where Oake often went to smoke.

Police found a baggie of white powder and weigh scales in his top dresser drawer in his bedroom. There was also a Johnny Cash CD case with a residue of white powder on it.

In the garage, they noticed a white powder residue on a small work bench. In a garbage can they found packaging for a mail delivery to Oake from Hong Kong. The prosecutor is alleging Oake used the so-called dark web to order drugs online.

As the search was wrapping up, one of the RCMP officers involved started feeling strange.

Const. James Gallant testified that he suddenly started suffering tunnel vision. His heart started beating erratically. "I could definitely tell something was wrong and getting worse."

He was taken to hospital where his symptoms, believed to be caused by exposure to the drugs Oake was using, subsided.

Oake's trial is scheduled to continue into next week. The woman Oake is accused of harming is expected to testify Tuesday.