MAN, 44, GETS FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR MARIJUANA TRAFFICKING

A man who ran a high-end Harrison Hot Springs restaurant has been
sentenced to four years in prison for being the "organizational
facilitator" in a multimillion-dollar marijuana trafficking scheme.

Daryl Desjardins, 44, was one of 46 people arrested in the U.S. and
Canada last May following a two-year, cross-border police
investigation.

Three aircraft, more than 3,600 kilograms of marijuana and 800 kg of
cocaine, plus more than $1.5 million US were seized.

Desjardins pleaded guilty in B.C. Provincial Court in Chilliwack on
Aug. 10 to exporting and trafficking marijuana and weapons possession.
The reasons for sentencing were released yesterday.

Police had watched as he flew a Bell JetRanger helicopter from
Harrison Hot Springs to Loomis in Washington state and unloaded three
hockey bags containing 155 kg of marijuana worth $1.2 million.

The bags of dope were seized by U.S. authorities and the recipients
were arrested.

When police searched his house in Popkum they found two sets of
ballistic armour and eight firearms, including two assault-style
rifles and four handguns. A Glock handgun, which had its serial
numbers removed, was taken from his vehicle. Some of the guns were
loaded. Police also found $21,000.

Judge Brent Hoy found there was no direct evidence linking Desjardins
to the larger probe, but said Desjardins was "not a mere courier, but
rather the organizational facilitator in a drug-distribution chain."

The judge said: "This incident was a well-planned and carefully
co-ordinated scheme that involved a multitude of other individuals,
both in Canada and the United States, for the pickup, delivery and
distribution of drugs. The defendant was not a mere courier hired for
the specific purpose of delivering marijuana.

"Rather, he created the means by which the drugs were delivered to the
U.S. market."

Desjardins was not licensed to fly the helicopter and it had not been
inspected.

"The defendant was involved in a large-scale commercial operation in
the distribution of marijuana, with economic gain as the driving force
for his participation," said Hoy.

Desjardins, who ran the beachfront Breakwater restaurant on Harrison
Lake, has two children and is separated from his wife.

He was previously ordered to pay $5.4 million in civil penalties by
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which convicted him in a
multimillion-dollar stock scam.