JUDGE THROWS OUT TRAFFICKING CHARGES

Drug trafficking charges against a Maple Ridge man were quashed last
month after a judge found Ridge Meadows RCMP entrapped him during an
undercover operation.

In a ruling released by last week, provincial court judge Shehni Dossa
set aside two convictions against Roland Andre Gosselin and entered a
judicial stay of proceedings on the trafficking charges.

Dossa found the undercover officer had no information about Gosselin,
other than the phone number of a possible known drug trafficker.

"As far as the undercover operation that was convened, he only had a
mere suspicion that the accused may be involved in drug trafficking,"
she said.

The court heard police first learned about Gosselin in July 2008, when
an officer stopped a person in Maple Ridge who provided him with
several pieces of information, one of which was the name "Roland",
that he drove a grey Oldsmobile and sold "green," or marijuana.

The constable entered the tip into a computer and received a second
tip in April 2009 from a special constable about an individual named
Roland with the same telephone number, who was 45 years old and had
dark, wavy hair.

RCMP began an undercover operation in May 2009 to target street-level
drug dealers.

Gosselin's number was called and an undercover officer asked if he was
working and said he wanted "half an O," or half an ounce of marijuana.

Gosselin was arrested after he meet with the officer and sold him
pot.

"I accept that the police in this case were conducting operations with
the genuine goal of pursuing serious crime, namely trafficking,
without ulterior motives," said Dossa.

"I find that the officer engaged in random virtue testing and did not
have details to have a reasonable suspicion that the accused was
already engaged in that particular criminal activity."