Police surveillance efforts unearthed a significant amount of hard drugs linked to a Robarts St. Apartment unit late in 2017. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

drug trafficker

Nanaimo fentanyl and heroin trafficker faces federal prison sentence

Jan 26, 2021 | 5:28 AM

NANAIMO — Police keeping watch on a downtown apartment unit culminated in a sizable drug bust with a street value of about $6,000.

A joint sentencing recommendation of two years in a federal penitentiary for Todd Gerald John Cawley, 60, was submitted to BC Supreme Court Justice Andrew Majawa in Nanaimo on Monday, Jan. 25. He’d pleaded guilty to a pair of drug trafficking charges, while three other charges were dropped by the Crown.

Federal prosecutor Chris Gibson told court police picked up signs of drug trafficking over five days of surveillance on Cawley’s Robarts St. apartment unit just off Albert St. in December, 2017.

Cawley was followed to a shopping centre parking lot where it appeared he made a hand-to-hand transaction with a driver in a truck.

Police followed the truck and found a small amount of crystal meth and fentanyl.

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Cawley was then arrested. He had more than three grams of fentanyl and about $1,800 on him, Gibson said.

Police uncovered more than 43 grams of hard drugs, including a heroin and fentanyl mixture, at Cawley’s apartment.

“They located various tools of the trade, there were three sets of scales…additional packaging, a score sheet and brass knuckles,” Gibson said.

Defense lawyer Kelly Bradshaw said Cawley developed an opioid addiction 15 years ago after he was involved in a serious motorcycle crash.

Cawley used morphine for four years to numb excruciating pain caused by a broken hip and three surgeries. Bradshaw said Cawley was eventually cut-off from his prescription, leading Cawley to turn to heroin.

Bradshaw said Cawley recently dealt with significant health challenges, which played a role in his delayed sentencing hearing.

Cawley has numerous criminal convictions on his record over a lengthy period of time.

Several of his personal belongings were forfeited, while he has also ordered to provide a DNA sample and hit with a mandatory firearms ban.

Cawley apologized to the court during a brief address.

Justice Majawa is slated to issue Cawley’s punishment on Wednesday afternoon.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes