L. Boyd

The applicant brought a s. 8 Charter application seeking to exclude 141 grams of cocaine seized during a warranted search of his residence and vehicle.

He argued the Information to Obtain (ITO) lacked sufficient grounds as it relied on unproven confidential informants and omitted their criminal records.

The court found the tips from three known informants were compelling, credible, and corroborated by police investigation.

The omission of the informants' criminal records was not material as they did not contain crimes of dishonesty.

The court concluded the warrant was properly issued and there was no s. 8 breach.

Alternatively, the court held the evidence would be admissible under s. 24(2) of the Charter.

The application was dismissed.

The offender pleaded guilty to eleven counts of double doctoring and one count of fraud under $5000 after obtaining over 224 prescriptions for narcotics, primarily fentanyl, from 45 doctors over 34 months.

The offender, who became addicted to fentanyl following back surgeries, failed to disclose previous prescriptions to the prescribing physicians and defrauded the Ontario Drug Benefit Program.

The court emphasized denunciation and general deterrence, imposing a global sentence of 22 months in jail, less 12 months credit for strict bail conditions and pre-sentence custody, followed by 18 months of probation.