Thursday May 23, 2013




Cocaine trafficking case progresses slowly

All five people implicated in an alleged cocaine trafficking conspiracy appeared in Yorkton provincial court over the past two weeks with mixed results. The five suspects were arrested January 16 following the search of a residence and three vehicles in Yorkton.

Davi Estrada, the alleged ringleader in the case remains free on $3,000 bail in British Columbia following an adjournment March 11. The Crown cited defence disclosure issues as the reason for the delay until April 15.

Estrada faces a total of eight charges including trafficking, conspiracy to traffic, possession of the proceeds of crime and breach of an undertaking.

Meanwhile, prosecutors dropped a conspiracy to traffic cocaine charge against a 33-year-old Neil Mydonick on March 4.

Shane Wagner, representing the federal Crown said after reviewing the file, prosecutors saw “no reasonable chance of conviction” so they withdrew the charge.

Thomas Campbell, Mydonick’s lawyer, said in a letter to Yorkton This Week, “there was no basis for the RCMP in laying this charge in the first place.”

Three other suspects in the case also appeared before the court March 4. Madeline Esquivel, 18, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of the proceeds of crime and will appear again March 18.

Marcus Beauchamp and Chad Wonsiak, both 31 and charged with possession of cocaine, were given adjournments until April 8 so they can consult an attorney.


Comments


NOTE: To post a comment in the new commenting system you must have an account with at least one of the following services: Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, OpenID. You may then login using your account credentials for that service. If you do not already have an account you may register a new profile with Disqus by first clicking the "Post as" button and then the link: "Don't have one? Register a new profile".

The Yorkton This Week welcomes your opinions and comments. We do not allow personal attacks, offensive language or unsubstantiated allegations. We reserve the right to edit comments for length, style, legality and taste and reproduce them in print, electronic or otherwise. For further information, please contact the editor or publisher, or see our Terms and Conditions.

blog comments powered by Disqus




Quick Vote

Survey results are meant for general information only, and are not based on recognised statistical methods.


Markets





LOG IN



Lost your password?