Whitehorse Daily Star

Crown to pursue prison term for convicted man

A Whitehorse man has been found guilty of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

By Rhiannon Russell on September 3, 2015

A Whitehorse man has been found guilty of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Kuntoniah Graham, 34, appeared in Yukon Supreme Court this morning to hear the decision, which followed a three-day trial.

Graham was one of several men arrested in 2013 in connection with Project Monolith, a Yukon RCMP investigation into cocaine trafficking in the territory.

At the time, police called it one of the most significant organized crime investigations in the Yukon.

Graham’s two charges – trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking – date back to an incident on Aug. 30, 2013. That day, a drug dealer turned police agent went to a Porter Creek home to pick up a kilogram of cocaine.

The agent testified Monday that Graham was at the house that day, and when the agent asked where “the work” was, Graham pointed to a stove drawer.

The agent, whose identity is protected by a publication ban because he’s now in the Witness Protection Program, retrieved a brown paper Super A bag and brought it back to the RCMP safe house.

Inside was a white Petro-Canada bag containing a brick of cocaine in vacuum-sealed packaging and red tape.

Two of Graham’s fingerprints were found on the white bag.

Justice Randall Wong accepted the agent’s evidence, and ruled that the prints landed on the bag when Graham stored the cocaine in it.

It was “conceivable” that Graham was at the house to guard the cocaine until the agent came to pick it up, he said.

Graham did not testify at his trial.

His lawyer, David Tarnow, argued Wednesday that the agent was lying about Graham being there that day. The agent admitted in his testimony he hated the accused.

“This would’ve been a great way to get back at Graham,” Tarnow told the judge.

“That man (the agent) is unworthy of any belief. He was paid a lot of money for his evidence.”

This was part of the deal he made with police; in exchange for providing information about his drug associates and gathering evidence, he would receive thousands of dollars, a new identity and not be prosecuted for his role in the group.

Tarnow suggested the agent, a man with a lengthy criminal past involving drugs and violence, stashed cocaine in the house beforehand or picked it up elsewhere on his way to or from the safe house.

Wong, though, called that theory “insupportable,” noting that police officers followed the agent to and from the home.

Tarnow also argued that because the Redwood Street house was often a gathering place for barbecues, with many attendees bringing food from nearby grocery and convenience stories, Graham’s fingerprints could have ended up on the bag innocently.

In his oral decision today, Wong dismissed this as “fanciful speculation.”

Although the agent is undoubtedly a “self-serving, unsavoury and ruthless character,” Wong said he believed he was telling the truth about the Aug. 30, 2013, encounter.

The man had only just signed his contract with the police the day before, he said.

“He was recruited to get the big fish,” the judge said yesterday, noting the man hadn’t received any of his promised $235,000 yet.

Graham wasn’t one of the main targets in this investigation, so it doesn’t make sense that the agent would make up lies about him and jeopardize his relationship with the RCMP.

Police officers who testified this week said if they’d caught him lying, they would have terminated their contract with him.

“It was in his best interests to carry out his instructions,” said Wong. “He knows which side his bread is buttered on.”

Crown prosecutor Eric Marcoux said the agent’s sighting of Graham in the home that day is corroborated by the fingerprints on the bag.

“(The agent) had all the reason in the world to tell the truth that day,” he said Wednesday in his closing arguments.

RCMP officers also testified they saw a blue Volkswagen Jetta with heavily tinted windows, a car they associated with Graham, in the driveway that day.

Graham’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 18, pending pre-sentence and Gladue reports.

In the meantime, he will remain at large on his bail conditions, Wong decided. These include a curfew and requirement to stay in the Yukon.

Graham has been on bail since February 2014 with no breaches.

Marcoux sought Graham’s detention today. He said the Crown will be seeking a prison sentence.

Graham has strong family support in the community and runs a taxi business with multiple employees, Tarnow said.

The trafficking charge was stayed because of overlap with the charge of possession.

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