Second Sarnia-area man caught with 212 grams of cocaine narrowly avoids prison
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A glowing pre-sentence report – one of the best a veteran criminal defence lawyer had ever seen – kept a young Sarnia-area man out of jail last month for selling more than 200 grams of cocaine.
A report for co-accused Justin Gadd, who was hoping for a similar two-year conditional sentence, wasn’t quite as rosy.
“It’s not exactly to the same point, I wouldn’t say, where I would wholeheartedly join Mr. Cake in suggesting a conditional sentence order,” assistant federal prosecutor Brian Higgins said, “but I’m not going to be overtly opposed.”
Defence lawyer Nick Cake pointed out the pre-sentence report on co-accused James Kember was written by a local probation officer while his client’s was penned by a staffer from the Greater Toronto Area.
“I don’t hold that against Mr. Gadd. He doesn’t prepare the report,” Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas said. “I don’t see a difference between the two of them with respect to that.”
The judge also said he was “impressed” by one paragraph, where Gadd took full responsibility for what he did and the harm he caused to the community. A handful of letters from Gadd’s family and friends also claimed his stint as a Petrolia-based drug dealer was “totally” out of character.
“I’ll accept that as being true, but the proof is in the pudding as you go down the road,” Thomas said. “You’re being given an opportunity with this sentence that many people would not have, so you make of it as you will.”
Prior to sentencing Kember, 27, last month, Thomas said he’d “never” given a conditional sentence – a combination of house arrest and curfew – to a person convicted of selling that much cocaine. He told Gadd, 26, it was still “a bit of a stretch” but agreed to “mirror” the sentences as Cake had suggested.
The sentence includes strict house arrest for the first year, followed by six months with a curfew and just shy of six more months without a curfew. Like Kember, Gadd can’t use non-prescription drugs, drink, have weapons or contact his co-accused for the entire term. Everything seized that day was forfeited.
Kember and Gadd were arrested in their vehicles on Feb. 18, 2020. Police had obtained search warrants for Gadd’s Volkswagen, Kember’s GMC pickup and the Petrolia house they were living in. Officers found drugs and drug-trafficking paraphernalia in all three places.
The total haul was 212 grams of cocaine, with a street value worth more than $20,000, along with about $6,000 in cash.
The pair both pleaded guilty in Sarnia Superior Court of Justice this past fall to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, but sentencing was adjourned to Jan. 5. Kember’s hearing went ahead that day, but Gadd’s was adjourned to Thursday because he was ill at the time.
“This was a huge mistake,” Thomas said to Gadd. “It is one that quite easily could have seen you behind bars for a significant period of time.”
The judge previously told Kember it would have been “quite easy” to send him to the penitentiary.
“You could be off in a van to a facility to go to Millhaven (prison) to be classified and then on to the penitentiary with some characters that you do not want to spend the next two or three years with,” he said. “I hope you appreciate that.”
Higgins had said he initially was going to ask for a “real” jail sentence but, after consulting with senior staff at the Public Prosecution Service of Canada’s office, joined Kember’s defence lawyer in suggesting the two-years-less-a-day conditional sentence. He didn’t oppose the same for Gadd but was less enthusiastic.
“We have similar offenders who committed similar crimes and, respectfully I submit to you, that they ought to receive similar sentences,” Cake said to the judge.
Neither man had a prior criminal record.
Gadd, standing in an all-black suit with a black mask over his short beard, pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket with a written statement. He apologized to the court for his “big” mistake and said he thought he wasn’t hurting anybody.
“I was wrong and it was stupid of me to think that way,” he said.
The Toronto-area sheet-metal worker, who’s since left the Sarnia area, added he has a “great” life now.
“This is the life I want,” he said. “I’m never going back. You won’t see me again.”
The judge said that’s “entirely” up to him.
Other charges laid against both men were withdrawn. Charges laid against two other Sarnia residents after the drug raid were withdrawn at the beginning of a preliminary hearing.
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