Prison time for letting garage be used to stash cocaine

A Brandon man whose garage was used to stash cocaine for a local drug-trafficking ring has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Craig Crofton, 59, pleaded guilty last year to possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Crofton was one of the 10 people arrested in Project Banish, in which police seized more than nine kilograms of cocaine in 2022.

“His actions facilitated the flow of cocaine on an ongoing basis to the detriment of the community,” Justice Scott Abel said while delivering his sentence in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday.

The Crown had recommended a sentence of three years, and defence recommended a conditional sentence — house arrest — of two years less one day.

Abel outlined the circumstances of the offence.

The Brandon Police Service began an investigation into Logan Bickerton, who police suspected was the leader of a drug trafficking organization in the city, in 2021. Bickerton received a nine-year sentence last year for his role in the drug trafficking network.

Bickerton used his residence along with stash locations to store the cocaine, Abel said. In June 2022, he began using Crofton’s garage to store the drugs and paid Crofton $250 a month for the space, Abel said.

“At the outset … the offender was not aware that his garage was being used for storing illicit drugs,” Abel said.

When Crofton found out, he didn’t report it to police or ask Bickerton to remove the cocaine, court heard.

“Rather, on occasion, the offender went inside the garage and removed small amounts of cocaine for personal use,” Abel said. “During this time, the offender had knowledge of the cocaine within the garage and had regular access to it.”

In August 2022, BPS installed covert cameras in the garage, which showed Crofton looking at and handling kilogram bricks of cocaine along with consuming personal amounts, Abel said.

BPS staged a break and enter into the garage in October 2022 and removed eight kilograms of cocaine, after which Crofton met with Bickerton at the garage and offered to look for whoever stole it.

Police arrested Crofton the following month.

Abel described Crofton’s pre-sentence report as “positive,” as it noted he had no prior criminal record, was assessed as a low risk to reoffend and was employed throughout his life.

Crofton told the probation officer who wrote the report that when he became aware of the cocaine, “he hoped it would simply disappear,” Abel said.

“He knew his options were to contact the police or do nothing, and out of fear did nothing,” he said. Crofton said he sampled the cocaine out of curiosity.

Abel said Crofton took full responsibility for not reporting the matter to police and told the probation officer he felt “blindsided and set up.”

Abel said the sentencing range for couriers for mid-level drug trafficking organizations, whose only purpose is to transport drugs for the leader to prevent them from detection, is three to six years.

He said a stash person is similar to a courier, as there is a level of trust, and the stash person insulates the trafficker. He agreed with the Crown that three to six years was the appropriate range for Crofton.

There was no evidence Crofton had any decision-making power in terms of the distribution of the cocaine, Abel said.

Abel said Crofton’s conduct wasn’t consistent with his explanation that he didn’t confront Bickerton about the drugs out of fear.

“That fear … did not prevent the offender from taking and sampling the cocaine.”

Crofton’s role in the organization also impacted the community, Abel said.

“Cocaine is a hard drug with deleterious effects to the community. Cocaine is a seriously addictive drug (and) has an exceedingly adverse effect upon users and society generally,” he said.

While Crofton didn’t profit from the sale of the drugs, Abel said his actions allowed others to profit.

Abel said a sentence of two years less a day wouldn’t be appropriate, but because of his lack of a criminal record and the way Crofton initially became involved in the offending, he said he would adjust slightly downward from the three- to six-year range.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com