BY KEITH LACEY
One of the most elderly drug traffickers in this cityÂ?s history will be spending his Christmas holidays at a federal penitentiary.
 |
The 74-year-old Sudbury man was sentenced to a two-year penitentiary term earlier this week after being caught trafficking illicit prescription drugs while under house arrest for a previous drug trafficking conviction.
The two-year sentence comes on top of six months Harold Barnes had already spent behind bars following his arrest on July 16 following a police raid of his residence.
Federal Crown prosecutor Robert Topp said Â?the penitentiary is the only optionÂ? for anyone caught dealing powerful prescription drugs while serving a conditional sentence of house arrest for another drug-related offence.
After hearing from a couple of police officers during a preliminary hearing, Barnes and defence counsel Louis Sola decided to plead guilty on drug and weapons offences.
Once the guilty pleas on two counts of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking and two counts of illegal possession of a prohibited weapon were entered, Topp read in an agreed statement of facts.
Greater Sudbury Police had a drug search warrant when they raided BarnesÂ? residence.
Inside they found dozens of high-powered pills that are sold on the street to drug addicts, said Topp.
Police also found more than $11,000 in cash, much of which was stashed into the walls of the residence and other money found inside the engine compartment of BarnesÂ? vehicle.
Some of the money found inside the engine compartment had been burned and would not have been able to be used as legal tender, said Topp.
The police search also uncovered numerous pill bottles filled with prescription drugs hidden in dog feces outside the residence.
Police also found all kinds of drug paraphernalia, including syringes, weigh scales and other materials commonly used by drug traffickers, said Topp.
Police also found a .22-calibre rifle and a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun with one bullet in the chamber ready to be fired and two other shells inside the weapon.
At this time of the police raid, Barnes was serving a 15-month conditional sentence imposed in 2002 after he was convicted on three counts of drug trafficking.
Despite the accused being elderly, he had no difficulty asking for the penitentiary term, said Topp.
Barnes clearly doesnÂ?t have any respect for the law as he was running a large-scale commercial drug trafficking operation while under house arrest on other drug trafficking charges.
The amount of drugs and money seized by police clearly indicates this was a large operation and Barnes was supplying illicit drugs to numerous clients, said Topp.
Sola agreed an additional two-year penitentiary term would not be inappropriate.
Justice Yvon Renaud accepted the joint submission. Besides the long jail term, Barnes was prohibited from owning or possessing any firearm or prohibited weapon or ammunition for the rest of his life.
