Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) PROSECUTOR SEEKS LONG JAIL TERMS FOR COKE QUINTET Four men and a woman convicted of trafficking and conspiring to traffic in cocaine should go to jail for six to nine years, a prosecutor recommended Tuesday. Neil Grandmaison, Angela Araujo, Victor Camara, Mikel Oulton and Robert Jenkins were found guilty in Victoria provincial court in March of the conspiracy counts, trafficking in cocaine, and other charges in a case that has been before the courts for nearly eight years. In the mid-'90s, about 40 police participated in an investigation dubbed "Project Egbert," which focused on drugs being smuggled from South America to the Lower Mainland and the capital region. Officers seized drugs, cash, handguns and vehicles when they raided four homes in Victoria, Burnaby and Vancouver on Oct. 25, 1995. Grandmaison, Araujo, Camara, Oulton, and Jenkins were acquitted in December 1996 when a judge said wiretap evidence could not be used in court. In December 2000 the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the acquittals and the case was sent back to Victoria provincial court. The country's highest court ruled the wiretap information could be used as evidence. During the second trial, wiretap evidence from 400 phone and pager messages was presented. The traffickers didn't sell drugs to support their own habits, nor did they have any other apparent ways of making money, Crown prosecutor David Mulroney said Tuesday during a sentence hearing that will conclude on June 27. "There's nothing to suggest that the motivation ... is anything other than greed," said Mulroney. He urged Judge Ann Ehrcke to consider giving the five traffickers stiff sentences to send a message to others considering selling drugs as a lifestyle. "Deterrence is an extremely important -- if not the most important -- principle (of sentencing)," Mulroney said. Jenkins and Camara had close ties to those who brought cocaine into the country, he said. Jenkins was "a multi-kilogram distributor who would be closer to the importer than these other individuals." Camara was Jenkins's "lieutenant" and the two often operated as partners, the court heard. Camara was Grandmaison's sole supplier of cocaine. The drug operation was very profitable for Grandmaison, said Mulroney. When police searched his residence they found $21,000 in cash and a loaded handgun in a bedside table. Grandmaison had no drug addiction at the beginning of the 1990s, but became hooked on cocaine by 1995, using up to $90 worth of the drug a day. His drug use came about as a result of his profits from trafficking cocaine, said Mulroney. He trafficked a greater amount of the drug than Araujo and Oulton, court heard. Grandmaison's criminal record shows nothing serious but his participation in this drug ring indicates he presents a grave danger to the community, Mulroney said. Oulton's criminal record included a conviction in Mexico for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. For that he received a sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $210,000 fine. An assessment of Oulton suggests he's at a medium-to high risk to re-offend within seven to 10 years of release. Araujo had a similar role to Oulton since she lived with him and shared the same telephone, cellphone and pager. She has a criminal record for cocaine trafficking. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl