DRUG DEALER DEFIES STEREOTYPE

KITCHENER -- Mirryha Moore is an honours high-school student who cares for
a disabled child and sings in a church choir.

The 19-year-old woman is also a convicted cocaine dealer, a part of her
life that yesterday landed her a six-month jail sentence to be served at
her parents' Bloomingdale home.

"It would seem Miss Moore had two lives; two separate aspects to her life,"
federal drug prosecutor Pat Flynn told Justice Margaret Woolcott.

Woolcott said this is a case every parent in Waterloo Region should pay
attention to because a drug dealer is not always a "dirty-looking
teenager," but "could as easily be a well-dressed young lady" like Moore.

"It is not always the people who immediately come into your mind" who are
the drug dealers, she said, adding that is why parents should know who
their teens associate with.

Woolcott also noted that she wasn't told by either Flynn, or defence lawyer
Derek Babcock, why Moore became a dealer: whether it was for the money or
because of a drug addiction.

Outside court, Babcock would not comment on why his client began selling
cocaine.

Flynn said Waterloo regional police received information that Moore was
engaged in illegal drug activity. Undercover officers did surveillance on
the teen for four days last March.

On the evening of March 13, officers watched as Moore left her parents'
house and drove to Breithaupt Park in Kitchener in her father's vehicle.
She carried a black bag which police were told she used to carry her drugs
and scales.

A patrol officer arrested the woman after discovering two plastic bags
containing a total of 13 grams of powdered cocaine in her black bag.

It also contained $250 in cash, weigh scales and a debt list which
contained "pages and pages" of information pertaining to drug transactions,
indicating a "serious and sophisticated" operation, Flynn said.

Moore pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Babcock said his client was on the honour roll at St. Mary's High School in
Kitchener and works for K-W Extend-a-Family, taking care of a disabled
child in her neighbourhood.

She is also a member of a church choir and is currently undergoing counselling.

"These events have come as a surprise to the people who know her," Babcock
told Woolcott.

"She has done a bad thing and she recognizes fully that she had done a bad
criminal thing."

He said Moore's parents have been very supportive of their daughter. They
both attended court for her sentencing and held hands during the proceedings.