Sarnia addict-trafficker gets nine years for selling fentanyl

Nicholas Bailey was told last year by a judge the six-month jail sentence he was getting for selling cocaine was light and he was getting a break.

But it appears his breaks are over.

Bailey, a 26-year-old Sarnia resident, was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for two other sets of drug-trafficking convictions. He was caught in the fall of 2021 and again a couple of months ago – while on bail – with massive amounts of cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The fentanyl – nearly 200 grams combined between the two drug busts – was the main reason for the nearly decade-long sentence both sides suggested. Federal prosecutor Brian Higgins compared selling the highly addictive and deadly opioid to putting multiple bullets in the chamber of a gun and giving it to someone to play Russian roulette.

Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes said he’s heard that analogy before, but he had a more fitting one.

“It’s more like someone opening fire,” he said.

After Bailey’s arrest on Sept. 14, 2021, the Sarnia police vice unit found nearly 124 grams of fentanyl inside his Devine Street home – his then-partner, her children and two dogs were living there, too – along with more than 117 grams of cocaine and over 60 grams of meth. The total street value was more than $44,000.

The roofer was arrested again on Feb. 24 at his safety’s Savoy Street home. This time police found a sophisticated video surveillance system guarding about 72 grams of fentanyl, more than 33 grams of cocaine and nearly 12 grams of crystal meth. This raid rounded up nearly $20,000 in street value.

“It’s extremely serious,” Higgins said. “The amounts of the drugs seized are significant.”

The February arrest was Bailey’s final one amid two-and-a-half years of legal troubles linked to illegal drugs.

The roofer was first caught in early 2021 with about 30 grams of cocaine and 15 grams of meth. That led to the six-month sentence, his first criminal conviction, in February 2022.

Just one month earlier, the former Sarnia Collegiate and Lambton College student was arrested in what city police said was a record drug raid in the area featuring a massive sweep of five addresses, including auto-body shops, in Sarnia and Point Edward. All charges laid against Bailey in that case were dropped Monday following his sentencing.

While those charges still are outstanding, Bailey was granted lease in May 2022. But just one month later he was arrested again on new drug-trafficking and bail breach allegations. The charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl and crystal meth were all dropped last October after he pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching his release order. He was sentenced to 30 days behind bars.

While spending last summer in jail, Bailey also was conviction of animal cruelty and received a discharge conditional on probation.

Bailey’s bail from May 2022 was canceled and he was ordered to forfeit his $10,000 pledge, but he was granted bail one more time in November. Little more than three months later, he was back behind bars after another drug-trafficking arrest. Charges laid in that case against a woman are still outstanding.

Defense lawyer Sarah Donohue, who’s represented Bailey throughout most of his charges during the past two-plus years, said her client is an addict-trafficker who’s gone through a tough time personally.

But she didn’t thin words on what he’s done.

“He’s made very stupid choices because of his addictions,” she said.

Donohue added he wants to serve his time and move on with his life.

Bailey briefly addressed the court, but what the soft-spoken man said to the judge from the prisoner’s box couldn’t be heard in the gallery.

Bailey’s former partner, Kerri Fink, was facing trafficking charges in the September 2021 case, but those finally were dropped Monday. She watched tearfully while sitting next to her lawyer at the defense counsel table as Bailey was led away to start serving his sentence.

“Mr. Bailey, you’ve got eight years to turn your life around,” Raikes said. “It’s all up to you.”

Bailey had one year in pre-sentence custody credit taken off his sentence, leaving eight years to go.

The nine-year sentence ties the one handed down last summer to a young man from Hamilton, caught with a record amount of fentanyl in Sarnia, for the longest drug-related penalty in recent memory in the border city. At least four other Sarnia fentanyl traffickers have drawn seven-year sentences in recent years: a dealer who broke into the wrong unit; a woman caught in a $125,000 drug raid; To fentanyl and cocaine dealer; and, just last month, a man caught selling twice in two months.

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@ObserverTerry