CO-WORKERS SUPPORT HELPS SEAL SUSPENDED SENTENCE IN DRUG
CASE

A judge was impressed Wednesday with the support fellow workers
demonstrated for a man facing a serious drug charge.

"Your colleagues think very highly of you," Ontario Court Justice
Wayne Cohen told Robert Zagorc after perusing a letter signed by 30
co-workers at Algoma Tubes.

Defence counsel Murdoch Carter provided the court with the "letter of
reference" after his client was convicted of two drug-related offences.

"It shows Mr. Zagorc is otherwise a productive member of society,"
he said, adding his client, who has shown a lot of remorse, "has
learned a lesson here."

Zagorc, 27, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for the purpose
of trafficking and possession of hash.

Cohen accepted a joint Crown-defence sentencing submission that
called for a suspended sentenced, two years probation and a $2,000
donation to KidsHope.

"I'm hoping he's learned his lesson," federal prosecutor Wayne
Chorney said. "He's been given a break."

The court heard police, armed with a search warrant, raided Zagorc's
west-end apartment on June 1 after receiving a tip from an informant.

Officers, who had to breach the door, found Zagorc and his girlfriend
in the apartment, Chorney said.

A co-operative Zagorc told officers "the weed was in a closet in the
bedroom" and the hash in a coffee table in the living room.

Police seized 15.7 grams of hash, 94 grams of marijuana, a small
address book with a debt list, a digital scale and other
paraphernalia.

Zagorc said "all the drugs were his and indicated she (his
girlfriend) doesn't smoke or drink," Chorney said.

Carter said there were a numbers of issues that would have been
raised if the matter had gone to trial.

Chorney said if the case had gone to trial and Zagorc had been
convicted, his position would have been 60 to 90 days incarceration.
The term likely would have been served intermittently because of the
accused's job.

The prosecutor described the marijuana offence as a "soft or low-end"
possession for the purpose of trafficking.

"The debt list was quite moderate and the quantity seized was less
than a quarter pound, a low amount," Chorney said.

Zagorc apologized to the judge for wasting his and the community's
time.

"I never want to go through this again," he vowed. "I don't want to
be in trouble with the law."

The Crown withdrew all charges against the man's co-accused, Madelyn
Biron, 23, following his guilty pleas.