By Ashley Legassic

Red Scorpions associate sentenced to 10 years for drug offences in Kamloops

Feb 26, 2019 | 10:10 AM

KAMLOOPS — A Kamloops drug dealer has been sentenced to a decade in prison for his involvement in the local drug trade.

In B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops today (Feb. 26), Erwin Dagle pleaded guilty to several counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, which included fentanyl, heroin, meth and carfentanil.

Crown prosecutor Anthony Varesi and defence lawyer John Gustafson agreed on a joint sentencing submission of 10 years for the offences.

Varesi read the facts into court record this morning, detailing how Dagle came across the RCMP’s radar in October 2016. Police had received information that the Red Scorpions gang — co-founded by Konaam Shirzad who was killed in Kamloops in September 2017 — had began trafficking drugs in Kamloops.

In January 2017, police received more information that Dagle had assumed a higher responsibility within the gang.

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Police began watching Dagle’s movements, Varesi says, and on March 30, 2017, officers saw him leave his home and load a suitcase into the trunk of a vehicle driven by a woman.

Dagle got inside and the pair drove to an unnamed gym, where Dagle placed the suitcase into a BMW before leaving in that vehicle. Officers stopped the BMW and seized a cache of drugs and cash before executing a search warrant on Dagle’s home.

Varesi says between the two locations, police seized $125,000 worth of drugs including fentanyl, meth, cocaine and carfentanil.

On Aug. 24, 2017, an undercover officer purchased a small amount of fentanyl from a drug dealer, who then went inside a room at the Hospitality Inn in Sahali, Varesi says.

Less than an hour after the officer’s purchase, Dagle and another man pulled up to the motel and went inside the room. Dagle then left and the vehicle he was in was pulled over.

Varesi says police then executed a search warrant at the motel room, and officers had found a key where Dagle was sitting in the vehicle, which they used to open a safe inside.

There were stacks of notes in the safe, and bags in the main area that were full of drugs.

Police seized a total of $176,000 worth of drugs from the room, and thousands of dollars were seized during both days the officers made contact with Dagle.

“They’re extremely serious offences,” Varesi says. “It’s a possibility the majority of fentanyl in the city was coming from the residence and the motel room.”

Along with the 10-year sentence, Dagle will have a 10-year firearms prohibition. Gustafson said this sentence means Dagle will be giving up an important part of his life.

“The sentence being proposed is a significant one,” Gustafson said.

Supreme Court Justice Nitya Iyer agreed with the joint submission. Because Dagle has spent time in custody, he will have to serve a further eight years and 10 months starting today.