Meth dealer sentenced to 6.5 years in prison

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This article was published 16/06/2022 (1560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Before he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison Wednesday morning, a man was deemed by a Crown attorney as a “distributor of chaos” for his role in meth trafficking in Brandon.

“Methamphetamine in particular is a drug that Mr. [Mitchell] Livingstone dealt in extensively [and] is a particular scourge on many communities in the province of Manitoba,” said Crown attorney Hugh Crawley during the sentencing hearing for Livingstone.

“It’s a drug that has a disproportionately negative impact on the community … it is a drug that is simply inducive to chaos wherever it is distributed and that means that Mr. Livingstone was a mid-level, sophisticated distributor of chaos within Brandon.”

Livingstone previously pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court to conspiring to traffic cocaine and methamphetamine between Oct. 19, 2020, and April 20, 2021, and possessing a stun gun and a firearm contrary to a prohibition.

He was previously charged as part of Project Debris, which was a joint investigation by the Manitoba RCMP, the Brandon Police Service and the Rivers Police Service.

The investigation was launched to probe drug trafficking by one of Livingstone’s co-accused, who is accused of bringing large quantities of drugs into Brandon from British Columbia to sell them, Crawley told the court.

Livingstone operated a trafficking network as a “mid- to street-level” seller in the operation, Crawley said, and sold methamphetamine and cocaine his co-accused brought in.

Police used wiretaps to intercept communications between Livingstone and other people, the Crown said. While the accused did make some transactions, he was mostly supplying drugs to street-level traffickers.

“He is a very busy drug trafficker at the mid level within Brandon, Manitoba,” Crawley said, adding at some points he had up to half a kilogram of drugs.

In other incidents, Crawley said Livingstone would give a different co-accused thousands of dollars, which the man would then take to Winnipeg to buy drugs for Livingstone to sell locally in Brandon.

“He was obtaining multi-ounce quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine and distributing them out in the Brandon centre. He was doing it for a commercial basis, it’s quintessential mid-level trafficking in both of these drugs,” he said.

Livingstone also pleaded guilty to possessing a stun gun and a firearm, which the Crown described as “tools of the drug trade.”

While the charges are serious, defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn said Livingstone led a “straightforward” life before he got into drugs. He was a productive member of society, but his life turned around in the drug scene.

Since being arrested, Synyshyn said Livingstone has made a choice to be sober and realizes the importance of it. He has sworn off drugs for the last 422 days.

Livingstone has improved his education since going to jail and has good prospects for rehabilitation, he said.

“He obviously had made some very poor decisions, some decisions he will now have to pay for and ultimately they are his past and they don’t have to be his future,” Synyshyn said.

Synyshyn also pointed out Livingstone is only accepting responsibility for his own actions in the case.

He jointly recommended a total six-and-a-half-year prison sentence with Crawley.

Speaking to the court via video, Livingstone said he is excited to move on in life and continue with his education.

Judge John Combs endorsed the joint recommendation from the Crown and defence, but underscored how big of an impact meth has had on Brandon.

“The obvious ultimate concern is with the scourge of methamphetamine in Brandon,” he said.

“Brandon has a huge issue with the effects of methamphetamine in this community. All of our resources are tapped to the maximum because of the involvement of methamphetamine on our hospitals, our jails, all of the institutions where people are dealt with, who are suffering are feeling the effects of methamphetamine.”

Combs said it is “evident” Livingstone was involved in the amount of meth found in the city of Brandon.

He sentenced Livingstone to six years in prison for the conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance charge and six months consecutive for the weapons charges, minus time served. He also banned Livingstone from owning firearms for life and ordered him to provide a DNA sample to police.

The charges for other individuals accused in Project Debris are still before the court and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

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