Vernon drug trafficker could face lengthy prison term

A Vernon, B.C., drug trafficker could learn his fate this week. Ronald Learning was back in court Tuesday for sentencing arguments after being convicted of 21 charges related to drugs, weapons and identity documents.

“All the evidence points to the accused being involved in the business of selling illegal drugs,” said Justice G.P. Weatherill when he handed down his decision in January.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "All the evidence points to the accused being involved in the business of selling illegal drugs," said Justice G.P. Weatherill when he handed down his decision in January.

The 34-year-old Vernon man was arrested in a 2015 police sting after border authorities found 363.6 grams of heroin hidden in a box of lamps mailed to Canada from Thailand.

An undercover police officer posed as an UPS driver and delivered the box, as addressed, to a Vernon property, with much of the heroin removed.

When Learning tried to collect the package, about an hour and a half later, he was taken into custody by police.

The next day, the RCMP searched Learning’s Vernon basement suite and found four handguns, a stolen passport and birth certificate, and prescription painkillers that a police witness estimated were worth more than $11,000 on the streets.

The 21 charges Learning was convicted of related to items found in his home. He was never charged in connection with the heroin.

Crown counsel believes Learning deserves a sentence of seven to nine years for the 21 charges he was convicted of, and five other related charges he pleaded guilty to. The defence lawyer is asking for a sentence of 26 months.

“Obviously, society has to denounce what he has done and to punish him for it but we start to lose those objectives if we are warehousing him for an outrageously long period of time,” said Learning’s lawyer Glenn Verdurmen.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Obviously, society has to denounce what he has done and to punish him for it but we start to lose those objectives if we are warehousing him for an outrageously long period of time," said Learning's lawyer Glenn Verdurmen.

Learning is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence on unrelated charges out of Saskatchewan. So also at issue is how that factors into his sentencing in B.C. Defense argues that adding seven to nine years to his current sentence would be too much.

“That’s going to result in sort of a crushing sentence that really doesn’t give him any light at the end of the tunnel or to consider rehabilitation,” said Verdurmen.

However, the prosecutor argues the lengthy combined sentence is justified considering Learning’s crimes were committed years apart. A sentencing decision could come as early as Wednesday.