Judge denies man’s bail

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This article was published 20/01/2022 (1521 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man allegedly found in a taxi with more than $1,000 worth of methamphetamine and several weapons was denied bail Thursday morning.

Dustin Rose is charged in an Aug. 14, 2020 incident and with breaching release conditions more recently. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty and the charges have not been proven in court.

On that day in August 2020, a police officer allegedly saw a taxi pull up outside Rose’s residence, federal Crown attorney Jean-Pierre Deniset told the court.

A man, who police later recognized as Rose, left the residence and got into the taxi, but at the time the officer couldn’t see who it was, he said.

The cab drove north onto Louise Avenue and the officer followed. Deniset said the taxi abruptly turned back onto the street it came from and the officer turned on his cruiser’s emergency lights.

The vehicle slowed down, but it didn’t stop, he said.

“Police could see the male passenger looking through the rear window and side windows. He was moving a lot inside,” Deniset said, saying the officer saw him leaning forward and trying to talk to the driver.

The cab eventually stopped in an alley after the officer activated sirens, which is when police allegedly recognized Rose sitting inside, the Crown said.

The officer told Rose he was under arrest for breaching a curfew from a previous charge and asked him to get out, Deniset said, but Rose reportedly shuffled between the left and right sides of the seat.

“He describes [Rose’s] mannerism as appearing ‘odd,’” Deniset said, before Rose allegedly stuck his hand into the open driver’s side window and dropped something inside.

When the officer later went to check what was dropped, he saw approximately $240 in $20 bills dropped on the floor and at the driver’s feet.

Rose allegedly said he was just going to work at the time, Deniset said. The officer asked him why he would throw money through the driver’s side window and Rose reportedly responded that he had to pay the driver.

The officer went back to the taxi to search the back seat and allegedly found a grey backpack and a cellphone. Deniset said police found a can of bear mace and a “fake pop can” with a false top.

“Upon opening the false top, the officer observed multiple resealable bags containing a substance believed to be crystal methamphetamine,” he said. Deniset added police allegedly found more resealable bags of meth under the seat, directly in front of where Rose was originally sitting in the cab.

The taxi driver reported to police Rose was “coaching him” when police were following, the Crown said, but the driver said he wouldn’t risk his licence.

Police allegedly found a total of 28.9 grams of meth in the taxi, which Deniset said has a street value of between $1,445 to $2,895.

The most recent allegations are from Wednesday, when at approximately 2:30 p.m., police stopped a vehicle as the driver didn’t have a valid licence.

Rose was allegedly a passenger in the vehicle, which Deniset said meant he was violating court-ordered conditions from a previous conditional sentence order. Police also found two cellphones in the vehicle. Rose said he was sick and going to the hospital emergency room.

Defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn said Rose did all he could to follow the conditions, but he was “extremely ill” at the time and was told to go to the hospital.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic, people who are sick are told to go if they need to go [to the hospital],” Synyshyn said.

Judge Donovan Dvorak said the court orders resulting from the conditional sentence order put Rose in a different position than other people when they get arrested. He also questioned Rose’s reasoning for going to the hospital.

“The reality is what you’re told is to stay home, which is a perfect situation for Mr. Rose, because that’s where he’s supposed to be,” Dvorak said.

Dvorak denied Rose’s release on bail. He is next scheduled to appear in court later in January.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_