By Ashley Legassic

A final conclusion to a five-year court proceeding in Kamloops

Mar 27, 2019 | 11:17 AM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been more than three years since Charles Gerald Patrick was acquitted of a series of charges after a traffic stop in Kamloops.

That stop happened back in December 2013, and the case against Patrick has been full of twists and turns ever since.

After Patrick was acquitted by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Hope Hyslop in Kamloops, appeals from the Crown went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and eventually a new trial date was set for this week.

But that trial didn’t happen. Instead Patrick, cane in hand, walked into a Kamloops courtroom and pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a loaded, restricted firearm, and the remaining seven counts were stayed.

Court heard on Wednesday (March 27) that Patrick was pulled over in an SUV around 4:00 a.m. on Dec. 11, 2013. There were three other men with him, including Cameron Cole.

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Cole was passed out in the front seat, and another man in the back had a gash in his forehead, Crown prosecutor Frank Caputo said.

Patrick had told the police officer who pulled him over that the group was searching for the girlfriend of one of the men.

“Mr. Patrick’s story did not add up,” Caputo said — noting that there would have been no room in the vehicle for another person.

The officer conducting the traffic stop noticed Patrick was doing something with his right hand. When asked to step out of the vehicle, the officer noticed a bulge in Patrick’s jacket.

Cpl. Kelly Butler found a sawed off shotgun on Patrick, and he was taken to cells.

When Patrick’s original trial concluded, Hyslop said the search of Patrick went against his Charter rights.

Defence lawyer Sheldon Tate told the court today that Patrick had the firearm on him because of a dispute that left him fearing for his life. He said the conflict came to be after Patrick bought a car from someone, and took it back after issues arose.

Tate said the seller was a lottery winner, who said he’d contract a hit on Patrick.

Patrick claimed that’s why he had the firearm on him.

“Mr. Patrick is content that he can put this matter behind him at long last,” Tate said.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley pointed out in his decision Wednesday that the joint submission of two years prison was less than the typical range for a crime like this, but said ranges aren’t to be blindly followed.

He added there was no reason to depart from the submission.

Patrick ended up back in custody on a more recent matter. His co-accused in that case: Cameron Cole.

The charges stemmed from a lengthy, nearly year-long investigation by Kamloops RCMP. Officers began their investigation into Patrick and Cole last January, when they responded to a home on Badger Drive in Dallas for a report of a home invasion.

Police executed a search warrant on the home and found several firearms, bomb-making materials, a quantity of cash, and narcotics inside, police said. Another search was conducted at a home in Westsyde days later, and police said Cole used both homes.

In connection to the investigation, police executed a search warrant at a downtown business last month and Patrick and Cole were charged.

Cole is facing a lengthy list of charges, several of them involving firearms.

Patrick will appear in court next month on the more recent matters.