A 27-year-old Sackville man has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of charges stemming from an interprovincial drug trafficking investigation.
Taylor Allen Cole appeared in Moncton Law Courts for sentencing on Wednesday afternoon.
He previously pleaded guilty to multiple charges that included possession of cocaine and crystal meth for the purposes of trafficking, and assaulting a man by striking him with a shovel.
His sentencing follows what the RCMP called a “months-long inter-provincial drug trafficking investigation” in March.
That’s when police announced charges against Cole and seven other people from Sackville, Grande-Digue, Memramcook, and Amherst.
On Wednesday, provincial and federal crown prosecutors went over an agreed statement of facts about the case.
Cole sold cocaine by the ounce to undercover police on three occasions before a search warrant was executed on his home on Stephens Drive in Sackville.
Police found 80 grams of crystal meth, 26 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, more than $8,000 in cash, and items that included scales, baggies, eight cellphones, a cocaine press and a money counter.
They also found a .22 calibre handgun and two silencers, at a time when he was under a release order not to own or possess any firearms.
Cole also admitted to charges from May 2021, when he went to a home on Upper Aboujagane Road, assaulting Henry Alexander Joseph Pottie with a shovel.
During that encounter, Cole also broke a bedroom window, putting an accelerant inside the building, some of which caught on fire.
Other charges included driving while his licence was suspended on two consecutive days in May 2021; break-and-enter at the Memramcook Institute, a building owned by the provincial government, where he stole three containers of paint; and possession of goods obtained by crime worth over $5,000, a trailer that police found attached to his vehicle.
Sitting in the prisoner’s box and wearing handcuffs, Cole said he didn’t object to the facts as presented by prosecutors.
Provincial court judge Troy Sweet sentenced him to four years in prison, minus 223 days for time served, the sentence requested by prosecutors, telling Cole he needed to take steps to turn his life around. The judge indicated the sentence was relatively lenient because Cole had no previous criminal record.
“You have to turn your life around and make better choices everyday,” the judge said.
Sweet allowed him to serve additional time in prison instead of paying two $500 fines which the defence said Cole was unable to pay. The duration was unspecified. He’s also subject to a mandatory DNA order.
Defence lawyer Carolyne Albert said Cole had turned to religion while incarcerated, and now attends Bible studies. About three weeks ago he became a father, she added.
“He’s really trying to switch his life around and be a better man, especially for the baby boy,” she said.
Also on Wednesday, charges were withdrawn against two other Sackville residents in connection with the drug trafficking case, Brittany Allen and Katherine Johnson.
Both were in attendance during Cole’s sentencing and he appeared to smile at them occasionally from the prisoner’s dock before he was led away.
Henry Pottie, the man that Taylor Cole beat with a shovel, stands accused of first-degree murder.
Police have said they believe that Pottie, along with Sean Patrick Patterson, murdered Jamie Leard on May 25, 2021 in Upper Cape. That was just a few days after Pottie was attacked by Taylor Cole.
