A Sarnia man arrested three separate times this year, twice for drug trafficking and once for a bizarre road rage incident, has been released on lease again.
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But Nolan Barr, 20, was warned not to pick up any new charges or he may not get out next time.
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“You’re at one of the highest levels of release so it becomes very difficult for you to be released next time. Do you understand that?” justice of the peace Pauline Bessegato said Tuesday during Barr’s latest bail hearing.
“Yes, I do,” he responded from the Sarnia courtroom’s prisoner’s box.
Barr’s most recent arrest took place about two weeks ago during a traffic stop in Plympton-Wyoming. Lambton OPP said their community street crimes unit pulled a vehicle over on Oct. 15 following a month-long drug-trafficking investigation and officers allegedly found suspected cocaine worth more than $37,000.
Barr and Ryan Young, a 22-year-old Sarnia resident, were both charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking while Barr was also charged with failing to comply with a release order, police said.
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Additional details were heard during Tuesday’s bail hearing, which wasn’t covered by a publication ban. Officers pulled the vehicle over as it returned from the Toronto area and saw two people frantically reaching down in the area underneath the driver’s seat.
After arresting the two people, officers allegedly found 374 grams of cocaine under the driver’s seat in a black satchel. The satchel also allegedly contained Barr’s driver’s license, the court heard.
Additionally, police allegedly found a can of bear mace on the floor.
Barr has a clean criminal record, but he was already facing two counts each of drug trafficking and drug possession linked to an alleged $29,000 drug bust from earlier this year. Lambton OPP said in March they arrested two suspects following a month-long probe and officers seized suspected cocaine, methamphetamine, hydromorphone, morphine, ketamine, and cash.
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The alleged drug bust was worth nearly $29,000, police said at the time.
“Mr. Barr’s alleged criminality has escalated with each case,” federal prosecutor Brian Higgins said during Tuesday’s bail hearing, noting the suspected cocaine went from 126 grams in March to 374 grams in October.
Meanwhile, Barr is also facing two counts of assault with a weapon and single counts of dangerous driving and public mischief by intending to mislead police linked to an alleged attack in June that forced a Sarnia elementary school to lock its students inside. Sarnia police at the time said a suspect allegedly rammed a woman’s vehicle and sprayed her and her passenger with bear spray.
While out on lease – $6,000 was pledged by Barr and his mother – he’s banned from contacting the complainants from the road-rage case, Madison Major and Riley Smith, his co-accused from the March arrest, 25-year-old Sarnia resident Donovan Donovan Joseph, and Young, who was released shortly after their Oct. 15 arrests. Barr, who will be living under house arrest with GPS tracking at his mother’s home, is also not allowed to drive or sit in the driver’s seat of a vehicle.
All of his charges – none of them have been tested in court – will be back in court on Nov. 15.
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