A 30-year-old Edmonton man was handed a $900 for possession of six fentanyl pills after pleading guilty to a single count possession charge.
Dwight William Mapp appeared in Boyle Provincial Court Jan. 23 to enter the guilty plea.
Federal prosecutor Melina Rawluk, reading from the agreed statement of facts, said that on June 16, 2016 police received complaints of a U-Haul driving erratically. Mapp was later identified as the driver of the U-Haul, and when RCMP members conducted a traffic stop they saw a number of straws “sticking out of his pockets” with a white powdery residue on them, she said.
Mapp was arrested by police, and after searching his person they found six loose fentanyl pills in his pockets, Rawluk said.
She told the court Mapp has a criminal record related to drugs, and normally prosecution would seek a period of jail time. However, a previous court date was adjourned upon prosecution’s request, so Rawluk said the Crown would be seeking an $800 fine rather than jail.
Mapp’s defense counsel Robert Gladu said Mapp is a 30-year old man that was living in Fort McMurray at the time of the 2016 wildfire.
He then moved to Edmonton, and Gladue said when Mapp was arrested on this charge he was on his way back to Fort McMurray after the evacuation order was vacated.
“It’s not really an early guilty plea, it has dragged on for some time, but he is here to accept responsibility,” Gladu said.
Mapp was given a chance to speak before sentencing was passed, and he said it was a “bad time” in his life after the wildfire.
“I understand I was wrong and I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone,” he said.
Judge Brian Fraser said the problem was not Mapp hurting someone else, unless he was dealing the drug, but hurting himself.
“The problem is if you had decided to use one and died,” he said. “Fentanyl – it just doesn’t make sense to me. It must be one unreal high.”
Fraser said he would accept the prosecution’s submission and sentenced Mapp to a $800 fine, along with a $100 victim fine surcharge.
