Drug charges put over to Wab.

Slave Lake
Provincial Court
February 2, 2022
Judge R.B. Marceau
presiding

Verne Bruce Johnson’s lawyer requested that six charges be sent to Desmarais (Wabasca) Provincial Court on February 3 for summary disposition. Johnson was in the Drumheller Institute and did not appear.

The Crown and defence had come to a resolution agreement, but still needed to discuss a few of the fine points, said the Federal Crown.

It is unclear which of the charges Johnson intended to plead guilty to. These are possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking (x3), failure to comply with a release order (x2), and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000.

A request to the court for the results on Feb. 3 had not been responded to by press time.

Peter Scott Clark appeared via phone. He pleaded guilty to a log book violation.

On August 18, 2021, a peace officer at the Slave Lake inspection station pulled Clark over, said the Federal Crown. There were issues with Clark’s log book. He led the officer to believe that this was because of poor training and lack of understanding. However the next day, Clark emailed the officer to say he was sorry for lying. That he understood how the log books were supposed to be done, and it wasn’t the company’s fault.

As Clark lied, the Crown sought a higher than normal penalty.

The basic first time log book violation fine is $1,500, the court heard. The joint submission was for $2,000.
Clark was fined $2,000 and given time to pay until January 23, 2023.

Appearing by phone, Iain Lachelann Gormly entered a guilty plea to a log book violation.

On September 16, 2021, a sheriff at the Slave Lake inspection station pulled Gormly over, the court heard. He was eastbound. He admitted that he was over his hours. He had planned on stopping at the Smith pullout, but missed it because of the rain. However, on the previous days the officer found other 15-minute time discrepancies. Some were in Gormly’s favour and others put him over hours. Gormly told the officer that he had a brain injury and dyslexia which made putting the exact time in a log book difficult, especially when he was tired.

The brain injury and dyslexia suggest these were errors, not intentional, said the Federal Crown. As such, the joint submission was for a $1,000 fine, instead of the normal $1,500.

“It (log book fines) is a safety issue and a deterrence issue,” said the Federal Crown.

The judge accepted the joint submission, fining Gormly $1,000. He received time to pay the fine until November 30, 2022.