Canada - OTTAWA - Seventh dealer pleads guilty to charges from gang war

OFF THE WIRE
Andrew Seymour
 ottawacitizen.com
A Brockville cocaine dealer who said he was left with little choice but to join a violent drug trafficking ring run by a member of the Hells Angels Nomads was sentenced to more than six years in prison Tuesday.
Dwayne Brugma was a mid-level drug dealer when the criminal organization run by Mario “Five Cent” Sincennes moved into town in an attempt to take over the drug trade in Brockville, Gananoque and Prescott by waging a campaign of violence and intimidation between October 2007 and July 2009.
“It’s not just the kind of situation where you submit your resignation,” said Brugma’s lawyer, Trevor Brown.
Brugma, 42, admitted to being stopped by police with two other men on the way to assault two other rival drug dealers who had resisted the group’s overtures. Police later found out the vehicle they were riding in had a number of weapons in the trunk.
On another occasion, police stopped him and seized more than $13,000 in drug money he was delivering to Ottawa. His Brockville residence was also being used as a transfer point for cocaine and cash.
Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder said she realized that Brugma may have felt he had little choice to join the criminal organization when it arrived in Brockville, but that was no excuse for what he did.
“Unfortunately, you made the choice to be a drug dealer in that small town,” she said. “You were playing with the big boys. You have to take responsibility because you were there in the first place.”
Brugma, who had two prior convictions for drug trafficking, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine for a criminal organization, conspiracy to commit an assault for a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic cocaine and conspiracy to possess the proceeds of crime. He also pleaded guilty to 11 breaches of his release conditions and possessing half a joint of marijuana.
Alder, who lectured Brugma on the destructive nature of drugs, said a long sentence was necessary to send him the message “enough is enough.”
“You are 42 years old. You can be a drug dealer for the rest of your life if you want but you’ll spend much of it in jail,” she warned.
Brugma is the seventh person connected to the cocaine ring to plead guilty and be sentenced.
aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Seventh+dealer+pleads+guilty+charges+from+gang/4091902/story.html#ixzz1AmnlEVis