No jail for erratic Vernon Cadillac driver caught with ounce of fentanyl

A 50-year-old BC man, caught driving his Cadillac erratically in Vernon, won’t go to jail after two dozen bags of fentanyl and carfentanyl were found in his vehicle.

Trevor Craig Jesswein claimed that the 24 baggies, which each contained one gram of the illicit drugs, were for his personal use and he wasn’t a drug dealer.

According to a recently published May 9 BC Supreme Court decision, Vernon RCMP pulled Jesswein over in April 2021 for his erratic driving.

“When the officer approached the Cadillac vehicle, the driver of the vehicle was unable to remain focused and had difficulty maintaining a conversation. There was a strong smell of burnt marihuana coming from either the driver or the interior of the vehicle,” the decision said.

Jesswein was prohibited from driving at the time and was promptly arrested. Police then found the drugs in his car.

The decision said there were no other indications of drug trafficking such as scorecards, scales or multiple cell phones found in the car, which is unlike many drug trafficking cases where these items are present.

Jesswein claimed he’d travelled to Vancouver to buy a larger amount of fentanyl as he was living in Barriere at the time and finding it difficult to buy drugs. He said he would occasionally sell it to friends to support his own addiction.

The decision said Crown prosecutors didn’t specifically challenge Jesswein’s claim, which he later pleaded guilty to.

The Crown wanted two years in jail, while Jesswein’s lawyer argued he should be put on house arrest.

His lawyers argued that Jesswein was committed to sobriety, was living in a remote part of Alberta with his ex-partner and mother to his two adult children, who he’d recently reconnected with.

The decision said Jesswein has a lengthy criminal record dating back to when he was 19.

“Mr. Jesswein has a notable criminal record spanning almost two decades in two different provinces,” the Justice said.

The Justice described his history of work over the last 25 years as “sporadic.”

“Mr. Jesswein’s extremely difficult upbringing is clearly connected to his substance abuse, and his substance abuse is connected to his criminal offending,” Justice Briana Hardwick said in the decision.

One friend described him as “manipulative, self-serving, and reckless” when he’s active in his addiction, and won’t talk to him.

However, Jesswein has been sober since 2022, and over the years had lengthy spells of sobriety.

The decision said Jesswein grew up in the small community of Blue River, BC, and his parents struggled with substance misuse. He mother shot herself in front of him when he was six years old, although she survived.

His parents split up when he was eight years old and his mother got together with a drug dealer.

“Illicit substances were always plentiful within the home. He reports first trying cocaine at just nine years of age and shortly thereafter experimenting with acid and other hallucinogens. Mr. Jesswein’s mother also recruited him as a young adult to work at her marihuana grow operation in the Lower Mainland, which led him away from prosocial work in the construction industry, which he enjoyed, to pro-criminal employment,” the Justice said.

By Grade 9 he barely went to school and was put in foster care.

“That arrangement did not last very long as Mr. Jesswein quit school completely by Grade 11 and entered the workforce as a labourer,” the Justice said.

Sometime in his 20s he met Tina Hauch and the couple had two children, now aged 20 and 21.

“Ms. Hauch was unwilling to tolerate Mr. Jesswein’s substance misuse and resulting unpredictable behaviour and left the relationship to raise their sons effectively as a single parent,” the decision said.

Jesswein said he had consumed “every drug imaginable”, preferring to be high as it numbs emotional pain.

His father died leaving him a “fairly significant inheritance” which he “squandered on vehicles and poor lifestyle choices,” the Justice said.

Since becoming sober in 2022, Jesswein has made strides and submitted references from rehab and an outreach worker saying he’d shown great insight into his addiction and describing him as “always respectful and considerate.”

While on bail he moved in with his former partner in rural Alberta and was stable.

While the Crown wanted two years jail the Justice wasn’t convinced.

“Mr. Jesswein’s difficulties appear to have occurred when he was in active addiction and had an unstable life. His circumstances over the past several years have been very different, and I do not anticipate he will have difficulties (on house arrest),” the Justice said. “Mr. Jesswein serving his sentence in the community will not endanger the community.”

Ultimately, Jesswein was given 12 months of permanent house arrest, followed by 12 months under a 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.