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A 42-year-old Vancouver man has received a four-year prison sentence after admitting to selling fentanyl and methamphetamine to people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
According to a ruling from provincial court Judge Greg Rideout, Chad Russell Hubick was arrested in his room in a high-end Vancouver hotel on July 2, 2020, and subsequently charged with possession and trafficking of fentanyl and meth.
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Court heard the arrest was made as part of a Vancouver Police Department investigation into mid- and street-level drug dealing in the Downtown Eastside, dubbed Project Bankroll.
Hubick was on probation for property crime at the time of his arrest and was found with $50,000 worth of fentanyl, $16,000 worth of meth, $10,000 in cash and several cellphones. A knife was found in his vehicle.
In his defence, Hubick said that he had lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic and resorted to dealing drugs to make ends meet.
“His involvement in the offending behaviour transitioned from a survival mechanism to overcome homelessness, and grew into an issue with him attempting to sever ties from the line boss with fear of retribution and harm,” Rideout wrote.
The sentencing report did not state whether the police had attempted to arrest the line boss, which is a high-level dealer.
Hubick told court that he had been employed by a glazier company since his arrest, and had received a letter of reference supporting him during the trial.
The judge said that while accepting Hubick’s statement of defence and request the he be granted a conditional sentence not involving incarceration, the impact of fentanyl on B.C.’s opioid drug crisis could not be ignored — and “amounted to conduct that demonstrates a reckless disregard for human life.”
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He also questioned why Hubick was dealing out of the boutique Exchange Hotel on Howe Street and drove a Lexus vehicle.
“I find the accused’s involvement in drug trafficking in the DTES in hard drugs, in particular fentanyl, as a mid-level trafficker driven by profit, attracts a high degree of moral blameworthiness for his conduct,” Rideout wrote.
“The accused was involved in the trafficking of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the DTES as a mid-range dealer for at least three months, and I infer likely longer. His cellular phone number was attached to some of the packaged drugs, ready to go. At the time of the VPD Project Bankroll investigation, he was not supporting a personal drug addiction. His drug trafficking operation was profit driven.”
Hubick was given a four-year prison sentence for dealing fentanyl and a three-year sentence for dealing meth. Both sentences are to be served at the same time, so effectively the term is four years.
If Hubick behaves well in prison, he will be eligible for release in November 2024.
dcarrigg@postmedia.com
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