Suspended sentence handed down for possession of proceeds of crime
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on November 5, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A former Lethbridge man whom police followed around the city while he appeared to conduct drug transactions will have to spend the next nine months under a nightly curfew.Clayton James Redel, 32, pleaded guilty Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court to a single count of possession of the proceeds of crime, and was handed an 18-month suspended sentence and probation, the first half of which he must obey a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. He was also ordered to live at a specific address in Grande Prairie, take counselling as directed by his probation officer, abstain from drugs, provide 35 hours of volunteer service and not possess any weapons.
Additional charges of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act, and possessing more than four cannabis plants that are not budding under the Cannabis Act, were withdrawn by the Crown.
Federal Crown Prosecutor Mark Klassen told court that between November 2019 and January 2021 Lethbridge police received information from a confidential source that a Clayton Harvey, who lived near the hospital, was selling crack cocaine. Police did not know the suspect, but by January 2021 they believed he was actually Redel.
Police began watching Redel on Feb. 2, 2021 at his residence in the 800 block of 17 Street South, and followed him as he and another individual drove around the city and engaged in what appeared to be drug trafficking to a number of people in a number of locations. Redel returned to the residence several times then left to continue the activity.
The following day police conducted a traffic stop and arrested Redel, and during a search they found $1,390 in his pocket. They also found drugs in the residence.
“This is the first time that he’s ever been charged with anything drug related,” Calgary lawyer Kaysi Fagan told court. “He has no criminal record.”
Fagan said Redel has changed his life since he was charged and is in a stable relationship with a stable job, and it’s unlikely a judge will ever see him in court again.
Fagan also suggested there were challenges the Crown would have faced had Redel not pleaded guilty and the matter gone to trial in September as previously scheduled.
“Most of what you heard from my friend Mr. Klassen would have been admissible; the confidential source information, et cetera. So what the police were ultimately left with here was a single day of surveillance. In my respectful submission there would have been multiple and potential fatal issues with the Section 11 search warrant. There were three other search warrants that flowed from that that would have been problematic, as well.”
Fagan said she had also intended to challenge the grounds for arrest, and said police had taken a statement from her client knowing he had not contacted counsel. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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