N.B. man at centre of P.E.I. drug ring gets 3½-year sentence
Ryan Scott Roscoe was nabbed last year in Project Lurid investigation headed by P.E.I. RCMP
Ryan Scott Roscoe of Lincoln, N.B, was arrested with six Islanders, and three others from Quebec and New Brunswick last July after RCMP seized $70,000 cash, 40 kilograms of marijuana and thousands of methamphetamine tablets.
The arrests were the culmination of a 20-month investigation called Project Lurid, headed by P.EI. RCMP and involving police forces across eastern Canada.
In Supreme Court in Charlottetown Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Tom Laughlin presented an agreed statement of facts that identified Roscoe as the key player on the Island.
According to the statement, Roscoe rented a storage unit and an apartment in Charlottetown to hide his drugs and cash.
'Truly remorseful'
He travelled to Montreal on at least one occasion to meet other men allegedly involved in the drug trade.
On P.E.I., drug deals went down in parking lots in Charlottetown and Summerside.
In July of 2013, after playing golf with undercover RCMP members in Cavendish, Roscoe sold them several kilograms of marijuana. Text messages intercepted by police reveal Roscoe co-ordinated the actions of other individuals as they sold drugs on the street.
Laughlin told court Roscoe, who had no previous criminal record, has no addiction issues and profit appears to have been the motive.
In handing down Roscoe's sentence, Supreme Court Justice Nancy Key said drugs cause huge harm to society and that Roscoe's actions were part of a pre-meditated and ongoing plan.
Roscoe told Key that he is "truly remorseful."