Police expert takes stand in Hotchen trial

By Jeremy Appel on December 13, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

A police expert in drug trafficking testified Wednesday in the trial of Aaron Hotchen.

Lethbridge Police Service Const. Chris Running took the stand at the Medicine Hat Provincial Court trial, where Hotchen is accused of possession for the purposes of trafficking and firearm offences.

He was there to interpret more than 30 hours of phone calls Hotchen made from the Medicine Hat Remand Centre between October and November 2016.

Running was in court the past week, listening to and taking notes on the phone calls Hotchen made from jail.

“I would suggest the individual making the phone calls is trying to run a trafficking operation,” he said.

Judge Paul Pharo ruled on Dec. 3 that Running is qualified as an expert witness in the trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, but not heroin.

Defence lawyer Marc Crarer had argued Running wasn’t sufficiently experienced in seizing meth and heroin to be qualified, which Pharo agreed with on just the latter point.

Hotchen was arrested Oct. 22, 2016, after police executed a search warrant on a farm near Seven Persons, seizing methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, a sawed-off shotgun, ammunition, cash and an unidentified white powder.

Running testified the drugs seized were consistent with possession for the purposes of trafficking, since there were relatively large amounts divided into multiple containers.

He said it’s not unheard of for heavy users to stock up on product before going out of town, but that it’s uncommon, due to the upfront costs and risks associated with carrying a large amount.

Running spent a considerable amount of his time on the stand defining slang terms Hotchen was heard using on the phone — ‘noisemaker’ refers to a gun, ‘oranges’ mean ounces, ‘one full window’ or ‘a full of tech’ is an ounce of meth, and ‘girls’ means cocaine.

Police also found what appear to be “score sheets” on the acreage, which list people and how much money they owe the dealer. These sheets also had arrows next to names, some pointing up and others pointing down.

Running said these arrows referred to different categories of drugs — uppers, such as methamphetamine and cocaine, and downers, such as heroin and fentanyl.

Earlier in the day, Running explained that a mid-level dealer, which the Crown contends Hotchen is, purchases product from a big dealer in a city like Calgary and has street-level dealers sell for them locally.

In one phone recording, Hotchen talks about taking a “load trip,” which Running said refers to a re-supply trip to Calgary.

The trial continues today.

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