Both suspects charged in a Sarnia police drug bust back in June have now been cleared of all trafficking charges.
Both suspects charged in a Sarnia police drug bust back in June have now been cleared of all trafficking charges.
Charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl and crystal meth laid against Nicholas Bailey following an incident on June 8 were dropped last month after Bailey pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching his release order. The same three ugly charges against his co-accused, 39-year-old Dresden resident Caylie White, were still outstanding – until Wednesday.
That’s when Brian Higgins, Sarnia’s federal prosecutor, asked justice of the peace Helen Gale to drop the trio of charges.
“Upon review of this case, the Crown has determined that there are Charter issues that result in there being no reasonable prospect of conviction and I’m asking that the charges against Ms. White be withdrawn,” he said.
“Charges against Caylie White are all withdrawn at the request of the Crown,” Gale confirmed.
During Bailey’s sentencing of 30 days in jail for two counts of breaching his release order, the court heard the Sarnia police vice unit had been watching him at his father’s Petrolia home that Wednesday amid allegations of drug activity when he entered a woman’s white Buick shortly before 6 pm The pair left despite Bailey being under house arrest, his first breach, and then crossed the border into Sarnia, which marked the second breach since he also was specifically banned from going to Sarnia or Point Edward.
None of the allegations related to a drug seizure that police announced in a statement two days later were proven in court.
A similar outcome took place for White about eight months ago.
A slew of gun and drug charges laid against a Windsor man and White, a Petrolia resident at the time, after Sarnia police said an officer noticed the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun during a traffic stop were either tossed out or stayed in March, also due to Charter of Rights and Freedoms issues. The lone conviction in that case involved Garrett Praill, a 35-year-old Windsor resident, who pleaded guilty in March to a single charge of unauthorized possession of a dangerous, restricted or prohibited weapon in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to 75 days behind bars.