Tasha Leone stands outside court in Nanaimo minutes prior to being sentenced to 5 years in prison. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

fentanyl trafficker

Substantial drug busts lands Nanaimo woman prison sentence

Aug 22, 2022 | 5:30 AM

NANAIMO — A deal brokered between the Crown and defence likely saved a Nanaimo woman several additional years behind bars after she pleaded guilty to half a dozen drug and weapons charges.

Tasha Luan Leone, 50, was jailed for five years by a provincial court judge in Nanaimo on Thursday, Aug. 18 after accepting a joint sentence recommendation for the woman with no prior criminal history.

Busts at homes associated to Leone on Selby St. and Nanaimo Lakes Rd. in 2019 and 2020 respectively resulted in nearly 240 grams of fentanyl, along with 70 grams of various forms of cocaine, other hard drugs, weapons, drug paraphernalia and thousands of dollars.

Crown prosecutor Jenny Rutherford told court, surveillance into activity at a Selby St. home started on Oct. 15, 2019 in which police tracked behaviour consistent with drug trafficking during several days of monitoring.

Police soon realized Leone’s husband, a focal point of the investigation, died the day surveillance of the property began.

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Mounties raided the home on Nov. 26, 2019 finding substantial amounts of drugs inside, most of which were stored on a coffee table and in a workshop safe.

Two guns were found, including an improperly stored and loaded shotgun, court was told.

During the search police answered multiple calls to Leone’s seized cell phone from people requesting drugs.

Rutherford said the Crown established Leone inherited an active drug dealing business orchestrated by her late husband.

“And that goes some of the way to explain how we have 50-year-old woman with previous no criminal history suddenly dealing with this amount of drugs and these kinds of firearms,” Rutherford said.

Leone was arrested and later released.

A little more than a year later another surveillance operation at Leone’s home began with Nanaimo Mounties producing similar results.

A Nov. 6, 2020 search warrant uncovered significant volumes of hard drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine, crystal meth, 65 oxycodone pills, two guns, brass knuckles and drug paraphernalia.

The offender, whom court was told had a disadvantaged childhood, has since attended a pair of residential treatment facilities and completed her first year of a trades program.

Leone had no breaches after more than a year-and-a-half released on bail following the second raid in which she as marked with an electronic bracelet.

Her lawyer Cheyne Hodson said her client has taken extraordinary steps in turning her life around.

He said Leone has strong support in her rehabilitation journey.

“What the next chapter of her life is I think is a much more optimistic chapter with a clear foundation that she can build upon with employment and I think a clear view with positive supports built up around her,” Hodson told court.

A tearful and apologetic Leone surrounded by family and a social worker told court she can’t undo the past, but has made significant strides during extensive addictions counseling and behavioural therapy.

She has immersed herself in Buddhist literature.

“I have learned to put the community and others in front of myself to do no harm,” Leone said.

Judge Alexander Wolf said the crimes Leone pleaded guilty to are highly aggravating.

“You’re not solely responsible for all of the pain and suffering that it has caused, but you were one merchant of death during this time period,” he said.

Judge Wolf voiced reservations about the sentence recommendation, who said the crimes could have netted Leone well in excess of 10 years in prison if she were found guilty at trial.

Leone was credited with 140 days of pre-trial jail time served.

She was also handed a five year firearms ban and ordered to forfeit all of the illegal items seized by police.

Eight charges laid against Leone were dropped in exchange for her guilty pleas.

B.C. Corrections will determine where Leone serves her sentence.

Co-accused Kyle Busch, charged with similar offences in connection to both busts, pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in BC Supreme Court.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes