A former Kelowna man who was charged following a massive drug investigation in the city back in 2017 has avoided jail time, after pleading guilty to a couple charges.
Benjamin Bridger was one of five men charged with drugs and weapons charges back in October 2020, stemming from an investigation dating back to November 2017.
The investigation, dubbed “Project E-Precedent,” involved 15 search warrants at homes and an office building around the Kelowna area in late 2017 and early 2018. After charges were laid nearly three years later, police said they seized approximately 5.5 kilograms of fentanyl and carfentanil, three kilograms of methamphetamine, 1.5 kilograms of cocaine as well as GHB, ecstasy, and other pharmaceutical drugs. Police also announced the seizure of several firearms and more than $130,000 in cash.
The Kelowna RCMP said the investigation had targeted the Red Scorpion gang, but police did not disclose the five accused's possible ties to the gang. It's also not clear why it took nearly three years to lay the charges.
On Tuesday, Bridger was handed a three-year suspended sentence, after striking plea deal with the Crown and pleading guilty last August to possession for the purpose of trafficking and possessing a prohibited firearm. A person who receives a suspended sentence serves the sentence outside of jail, under a number of conditions.
As a result of the plea deal, the Crown dropped three other drug charges and another weapons charge he was facing.
While the offences occurred in Kelowna, Bridger's case has been heard in Prince George court since July.
One of the five accused, Nikolas Parisee, struck a plea deal with the Crown in February 2021, pleading guilty to one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Through the deal, he avoided jail time, and was handed two years of probation instead.
Another accused, Travis Cumming, is scheduled to face trial on the matter in February 2023.
In a Civil Forfeiture suit filed against Cumming in 2019, the government said police first began surveilling Cumming in November 2017. He was arrested twice in December of that year, followed by a third in April 2018.
Following the third arrest, police raided Cumming's home, where police allegedly found a variety of drugs, tens of thousands of dollars in cash and a nine-millimetre semiautomatic handgun.
In February 2020, a BC Supreme Court judge ruled the BC Civil Forfeiture Office could keep close to $70,000 in Canadian cash it had seized from Cumming during the April 2018 raid, ruling the cash was proceeds of criminal activity.
A separate Civil Forfeiture suit filed last year alleged Cumming was arrested again for selling cocaine and other drugs in Kelowna in March 2021. Criminal charges have not been laid yet in connection to that arrest.
Meanwhile, the other two co-accused, Jonathan Sierra and Jason Keehn, are scheduled to face trial in April of this year.
