Couple charged in Arkona-area drug busts twice in two months

The same Sarnia-area couple has been arrested twice in a two-month span amid back-to-back drug busts in the Arkona area worth nearly $26,000, Lambton OPP say.

A Sarnia-area couple has been charged twice in two months after Arkona-area roadside drug busts totaling nearly $26,000, provincial police say.

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Lambton OPP community street crimes and intelligence officers and Anishinabek police pulled over a vehicle on Arkona Road in Lambton Shores about 1 am Sept. 6 and seized suspected fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other offense-related property, police said.

Street value wasn’t provided at the time, but a Lambton OPP spokesperson said Tuesday the seizure totaled about $8,500.

Three people were arrested, police said.

Jacob Kaczanowski, 36, and Jamie Millier, 34, both of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, face two counts of possessing drugs for trafficking, police said.

Kaczanowski was held pending a bail hearing while Millier was released with an Oct. 2 court date.

The couple are the parents of Sarnia’s first baby of 2021.

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Also charged is Jonathan McMaster, 53, of Lambton Shores, who faces the same two counts, police said. He was released with an Oct. 23 short date.

Kaczanowski, Millier and two other people were charged after a similar drug bust in the same area two months before, police have said.

Officers from the same units pulled over a vehicle on Townsend Line in Arkona about 11 pm July 4 and seized suspected fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, trafficking materials, and cash with a combined value of more than $17,000, Lambton OPP said at the time.

Kaczanowski was charged with two counts of possessing drugs for trafficking and one count of breaching bail, police said. Millier was charged with possessing drugs for trafficking.

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Both were released with an early August court date, police said.

Todd Lucas, 52, of Petrolia, and Marianne Dodge, 59, of Forest, also were charged with possessing drugs for trafficking and released with August court dates, police said.

Kaczanowski, who is still in custody, appeared briefly in court Tuesday morning by video link from the Sarnia Jail. His case was adjourned to Friday for a lease plan to be put together.

A judge previously urged Kaczanowski to turn his life around while sentencing him for a series of drug-fueled crimes in 2022. It was a similar situation during previous sentencings in July 2018 and April 2017.

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