POT VENDOR TO BE SENTENCED

An ex-lawyer's street vendor business was a one-stop shopping centre
for warm hotdogs, cold soda pops and marijuana last summer in Prince
Albert's downtown core.

James Bomek, 57, sometimes sold drugs for money and sometimes he
traded the drugs for favours or items such as a power drill, a
provincial courtroom heard Tuesday.

The man, who used to be a lawyer in Flin Flon, Man., will be sentenced
this morning on two charges of trafficking marijuana. He was arrested
Sept. 27, 2005, when his hotdog cart was searched. Bomek usually
operated on the corner of Central Avenue and 12th Street.

Police found three tinfoil packages, each containing three joints, on
him when they searched him that day. They also found 14 tinfoil
packages in the cart for a total of 51 joints with a street value of
$170.

A further search of Bomek's home revealed 120 joints for a value of
$400 and 33 grams of loose marijuana with a street value of $660.

Crown prosecutor Fran Atkinson said officers found drug paraphernalia,
scales, marijuana seeds and cigarette rolling papers.

"They also found a diary in his handwriting detailing his illegal
activity," said Atkinson.

The diary revealed Bomek had sold drugs to various people on different
occasions between Aug. 2, 2004 and the day he was arrested. Some of
the sales were to Prince Albert youth.

"He gave some to young individuals who would help him move the hotdog
cart around," Atkinson told the court, adding most of the young people
were under the age of 18.

Atkinson asked Judge Henry Goliath to sentence Bomek to three to four
years in prison, taking into account the fact he sold in public, he
sold to minors and that he did it for personal gain, as opposed to
supporting a drug habit.

Defence lawyer Ed Stephens, however, said a lengthy prison term such
as that is not warranted. Citing other cases of drug trafficking,
Stephens pointed out that other individuals had received lesser
sentences for selling larger amounts of drugs.