DRUG SMUGGLING NETS HEAVY TERMS FOR TRIO

A B.C. Supreme Court Judge Hands Down Sentences Of Eight To 18 Years

A B.C. Supreme Court judge on Monday dismissed defence pleas for
leniency and sentenced three B.C. men to prison terms of eight to 18
years for drug smuggling.

In her ruling, Justice Anne MacKenzie emphasized the damage cocaine
has caused.

A suggestion by the defence that cocaine was benign was, she said,
"entitled to little weight."

"They [the convicted] had no moral reservations about their
activities or the destruction they would cause," the former
prosecutor said in a lengthy ruling that took her an hour to read.

"They must be sentenced severely."

David James Oliynyk, a 55-year-old former member of the Hells Angels
White Rock chapter, was labelled the boss in the conspiracy to import
the drug. He received the stiffest sentence because it was his second
offence.

In 1989, Oliynyk was convicted in the United States and sentenced to
10 years in jail after he was caught in Washington State trying to
buy 13 kilos of cocaine.

The Langley man, who ran a horse specialty-equipment business called
Bit of Tack, kissed his 20-year-old daughter before being led away by
sheriffs.

His middle-aged, balding partners -- Joseph Elwood Roger Lepage and
Lloyd Allan Ferris -- embraced their respective partners and shook
hands with a lone supporter who came to court for their sentencing.

Lepage, a 47-year-old with no previous criminal record who is part-
owner of a video store in Peachland, was sentenced to 12 years.

He claimed that part of the reason he was involved in the drug scheme
was his addiction to cocaine.

Lepage, described as "a good family man," was consuming between one
and two ounces of the drug a month at a cost of some $3,000, his
lawyer told the court.

Ferris, a 59-year-old handyman from Abbotsford, considered the least
culpable of the three, was sentenced to six years.

Also said to be a hard-working, well-liked individual in the
community, Ferris asked MacKenzie for leniency because he suffers
from multiple sclerosis and related health problems.

His lawyer suggested he be given a jail term of two-years less a day
so he would be eligible for a conditional sentence that could be
served in the community.

MacKenzie was unmoved. Such a punishment, she said, was "most
inappropriate."

Police charged the three men in the summer of 2001, some six months
after U.S. authorities caught Ferris driving north through Oregon in
a truck carrying 32 kilos of cocaine bound for Canada.

U.S. police seized the drug but, unsure whether Ferris was just a
courier or bigger part of a larger scheme, let Ferris go to see where
he would lead them. The investigation grew into a joint operation
between RCMP and several U.S. police departments probing a number of
criminal organizations.

Justice MacKenzie concluded the shipment was only part of a plan by
the trio to regularly import the drug for huge profits.

They argued the load was one-time-only triggered by problems they
encountered exchanging Canadian currency for American cash as a
result of their other drug trafficking business.

According to their lawyers, the men made enormous profits selling
B.C. Bud to California customers but ran into difficulties trying to
launder the money.

"I thought American money was good everywhere," MacKenzie noted wryly
during the trial.

In her judgment, she said it was "ironic" the accused would admit to
large-scale marijuana smuggling in the belief it lessened their
responsibility for other offences.

"It is hardly a mitigating factor that they were having trouble
laundering money," she said.

MacKenzie pointed out that the wiretap evidence --63 intercepted
phone conversations -- clearly indicated this was no one-shot deal.

The potential profit, she said, was between $832,000 and $1.88
million if the cocaine were sold wholesale -- nearly double if sold
in smaller quantities.

"These people were not naive novices in the drug trade," the judge said.

She called them experienced dealers and Oliynyk "well connected."

These three were among more than a score of individuals in a handful
of independent organized criminal organizations charged by police as
a result of a continent-wide investigation known as Project Exacto-Two.

It was the result of an earlier murder inquiry -- called Project
Exacto -- into the Fraser Valley killing a decade ago of a marijuana
grower and his wife.

Another group of B.C. men -- the last of those arrested in the
roundup -- are charged with marijuana offences and are still before
the court. Their trial is expected to last another two months.