FORMER MAYOR ADMITS DEALING DRUGS

A former Essex County mayor pleaded guilty Thursday to drug
trafficking and firearm charges.

Henry DeYong, 66, was among 70 people arrested in a joint OPP and
Leamington police sting operation last fall. Court heard he was the
supplier of two drug dealers who sold marijuana to an undercover OPP officer.

In Ontario court in Leamington Thursday, DeYong was fined a total of
$4,025 and made to forfeit $2,540 and three long guns that were found
inside his Heritage Road home in Kingsville in an Oct. 28 drug raid.

Inside the lakefront home, police found 694 grams of marijuana and
$2,540 in cash, $580 of which were bills used by an undercover
officer to buy marijuana from a Kingsville woman two days earlier.

Police also found 10 marijuana plants, a grow light, a scale and baggies.

Two shotguns and a rifle were found in the master bedroom closet, as
were shotgun shells, a rifle clip and bullets.

DeYong, who was mayor of Gosfield South Township and ran for mayor of
Kingsville after amalgamation, pleaded guilty to three counts of
careless storage of a firearm. Defence lawyer Kirk Munroe told the
court there was no evidence the guns were associated in any way with
DeYong's drug operation and in fact had been given to him as
"collateral" from the time he owned and operated Queen's Auto Supply
in Kingsville.

DeYong also pleaded guilty to trafficking in marijuana, production of
marijuana, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and
possessing money that was the proceeds of crime.

Federal prosecutor Anthony Leardi told the court DeYong was not, at
first, on the list of targeted suspects when the OPP and Leamington
police executed a series of co-ordinated arrests at locations
throughout Kingsville and Leamington.

He said an undercover OPP officer had been purchasing marijuana from
Corey Stanton, 43, and Wendy Malott, 55, of Kingsville. After one
drug transaction, police followed Malott to a property owned by DeYong.

The charges involving Malott and Stanton are still before the courts.

Munroe had asked that DeYong be fined $2,500, since that is what's
been agreed to by the Crown in a joint submission in Malott and
Stanton's cases.

Leardi argued DeYong's fine should be higher since "he was the supplier."

Munroe said DeYong could have gone to trial, but pleaded guilty "to
get it behind him.

"Because of his position in the community, he is quite embarrassed by
this episode."

Court heard DeYong came to Canada at the age of 10 from Holland and
has lived in the area since. His first career was in car repair. He
owned Queen's Auto Supply in Kingsville and used to have a farm. He
is divorced, with two grown sons and six grandchildren.

DeYong stood, clasped his hands behind his back and said "No, sir,"
when asked by Justice Guy DeMarco if he'd like to say anything to the court.

"It is unfortunate that a man who has done as well in his adopted
country as you have finds himself in this situation," DeMarco said.