Pubdate: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Robert Koopmans, Kamloops Daily News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) GANG LEADER, A 'SMART, CAUTIOUS' DRUG DEALER, SENTENCED TO FIVE MORE YEARS The local leader of the Independent Soldiers gang was a smart and careful drug dealer who efficiently sold significant quantities of cocaine, a judge said Friday. Jayme Russell was not a drug user who sold to feed an addiction. Rather, he was a smart, cautious businessman, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Blair noted. Russell always kept a distance from the cocaine he sold, although he collected the money, negotiated the deals and arranged locations, Blair said. One time, he even arranged for a cash-counting machine to be on hand so he could count $18,700 when he sold undercover officers 500 grams of cocaine. Russell used text messaging to do business, to avoid having his conversations intercepted. He was snared largely because of the work of another low-level drug dealer who agreed to work with the RCMP as an agent. "For him, the drug trade was a business from which he earned substantial sums of money," Blair said, noting that was a factor the court had to consider when imposing a sentence. Blair jailed Russell for five years on top of a two-year prison term imposed by another judge in a different drug case in May. Sheldon Tate, Russell's defence lawyer, argued the previous trafficking conviction should be considered part of one continuous transaction with the more recent drug offences. He asked for a total sentence for all the offences of no more than four years. Blair rejected that, saying Russell's first conviction was for a crime in 2007, when he agreed to sell undercover RCMP officers one kilogram of cocaine. The judge said Russell's wife and young daughter have moved from Kamloops to the Lower Mainland, where his parents live and where Russell expects he will live when released from prison. His parents have agreed to support him in building a more productive life, he said. Society can only hope Russell will be rehabilitated, the judge said, especially considering the damage he has caused. Russell was arrested after the RCMP targeted mid-to upper-level drug dealers in Kamloops. Four others were also charged. One pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in January; three will face trials. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D