Top stories of 2024: Drug traffickers handed significant sentences

Shortly after the May 2019 drug bust, six ounces of fentanyl and a small amount of cocaine were found at Pham’s Summerhill Pl. apartment unit, which justice Robin Baird found was solely rented for packaging and dealing drugs.

Nanaimo RCMP raided Pham’s apartment unit at 1805 Summerhill Place, located in the Bowen Rd/Dufferin Cres. area. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Justice Baird concluded that Pham was running a lucrative drug trafficking operation serving local, transnational and international dealers and users.

A Crown expert estimated the YVR haul was worth upwards of $750,000 on the streets in Canada, while the drugs at Pham’s apartment were valued at around $35,000.

Four firearms, two of which were prohibited, along with ammunition were found by police in Pham’s second-floor unit.

Pham’s cell phones provided valuable intelligence in advancing the police investigation into Pham’s trafficking of crystal meth, fentanyl and cocaine.

Text exchanges around the time of the busts indicated Pham travelled to Montreal to purchase 190 kilograms of methamphetamine.

Justice Baird said Pham was a “pure profiteer” whose greed continually ravaged vulnerable people.

“…let it be emphasized, not an addict himself, not involved in this vicious trade to support his own habit, but a parasite – enriching himself by the immiseration and destruction of others…”

Pham later unsuccessfully appealed the sentence.

Pham and co-accused Gordon Brooks both face multiple charges in a pending B.C Supreme Court trial for their alleged roles in a dark web drug scheme leading to roles in Nanaimo in 2020.

Kerry Chang
Convicted in late April following a B.C. Supreme Court trial in Nanaimo was a man well acquainted with the wrong side of the law.

Kerry Wallace Chang, 55, was found guilty of trafficking 471 grams of fentanyl found on a living room coffee table during a police raid of the Twelfth St. South Nanaimo home in Nov. 2020.

Justice Baird didn’t buy Chang’s account that the nearly half kilogram of fentanyl belonged to a since-deceased addict or a female dealer.

“No drug dealer in his right mind would leave inventory of this value, or any value, unattended in a house full of fentanyl addicts,” justice Baird stated.

Kerry Chang outside provincial court in Nanaimo for an unrelated matter. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Chang drew attention to himself while in custody during recorded phone calls in which he confirmed he was dealing fentanyl from the Twelfth St. home and that he had pivoted to trafficking in larger quantities to mostly out-of-town buyers.

At the time, Chang had not breached any of his release conditions and was free on bail.

However, he failed to show up for a scheduled Sept. 20 sentencing hearing for the Twelfth St. Bust and a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued.

On Oct. 13 court records showed Chang entered a guilty plea for breaching his release order and he was handed a time-served sentence.

He’s still awaiting a sentence for the Twelfth St. Incident.

Shai Illan
After pleading guilty to seven drug trafficking and a pair of possession offences, a Nanaimo man found out the hard way how punishments for hard illicit drugs are elevating.

Shai Ben Eli Illan was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison in May, with four counts he was convicted of involving fentanyl.

Cody Ranger
A substantial weapons and drug bust in south Nanaimo and at the Vancouver International Airport in 2023 resulted in several serious charges against a local man.

Cody Edward Ranger was charged in May with nine counts of firearms and drug offences.

The 36-year-old came to the attention of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials after three firearm silences were intercepted at YVR in August and October 2022.

On May 30, 2023, in coordination with the RCMP’s Vancouver Island Emergency Response Team, CBSA criminal investigators executed a search warrant at a Ninth St. home in Nanaimo, near Park Ave. Elementary School.

Ranger faces several charges in relation to a pair of busts, one at YVR and the other in south Nanaimo. (Nanaimo RCMP/Submitted photo)

Two vehicles were also searched as part of the raid, resulting in the seizure of several items:

two loaded, prohibited nine-millimetre ghost guns
a loaded, prohibited shotgun
a nine-millimetre restricted rifle with readily accessible ammunition and suppressor
two non-restricted rifles
nine over-capacity magazines
119 grams of methamphetamine
335 grams of cocaine
15 grams of MDMA;
10 grams of psilocybin
22 electronic devices

Ranger remains in custody and is awaiting trial.

William Paulsen
A key figure in the Nanaimo Hells Angels biker organization received a six-year prison sentence on Nov. 7 after he pleaded guilty to 15 drug trafficking and possession charges.

William Karl Paulsen, 53, was brought down after an informant and undercover police operation featuring secret recordings provided irrefutable evidence against the Campbell River man.

Paulsen’s May 2020 arrest at his Campbell River home was made after he was spotted by police accepting a delivery from a Lower Mainland courier driver.

Paulsen began serving a six year prison sentence in November 2024. (CFSEU-BC)

As the truck made its way out of Campbell River police pulled the driver over and found more than $84,000 bundled in packages.

A separate team of officers busted Paulsen at his home minutes after accepting the delivery, where police retrieved 980 grams of high-purity cocaine in his vehicle.

A search warrant of his home turned up high volumes of cash and additional drugs.

A Hells Angels vest was also recovered in the shop, as was a book titled “Cocaine Handbook: An Essential Reference.”

While Paulsen did not take any exception to the forfeiture of $100,000 found in his home, his Honda Civic and drug paraphernalia, he’s fighting potentially losing his family home.

A hearing late next May in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo is expected to determine the fate of the Highland Rd. home in Campbell River.

Overdose prevention site bust
A high-profile drug bust at Nanaimo’s Overdose Prevention Site on Sept. 12 rocked the Nanaimo community.

The seizure of a loaded pistol, large amount of crystal meth, cocaine, suspected fentanyl, opiate tablets and cash was allegedly made at the Albert St. OPS site.

A further 1.1 kilograms of various drugs, including meth, cocaine, and fentanyl were seized, as was more than $15,000 in the motel room seizure, according to Nanaimo RCMP.

Multiple charges were laid against two people: Gerid James Gregory-Allen and Sarah Lynn Koshman.

The overdose prevention site is operated by the mid-Island branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association on contract from Island Health. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

The incident created a social media firestorm in the early days of the provincial election campaign and drew strong condemnation from Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.

Noting the OPS is a service contracted out by Island Health and overseen by the B.C. government, Krog said the City of Nanaimo and the public at large demand that the service is conducted properly.

“The City expects these places to be run in a safe, secure manner that does not endanger in any way the public whether they are using drugs or not using drugs,” Krog told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Allegations surfaced of at least one of the accused having a direct stake in the Albert St. OPS site, which Canadian Mental Health Association mid-Island branch executive director Jason Harrison denied.

However, a mid-July social media post by Koshman stated she had a new job at the Nanaimo OPS while appearing to be wearing CMHA credentials.

Harrison promised a thorough internal review of its policies and procedures would be done.

Koshman was later freed on bail, while Gregory-Allen remains in pretrial lockup.

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by NanaimoNewsNOW staff

Top stories of 2024: Drug traffickers handed significant sentences

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