B.C. man selling drugs kept loaded shotgun by bed to protect stash: Crown

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Police seized cocaine and prescription drugs at the home of a B.C. man who kept a loaded shotgun by his bed to protect his stash, a jury has heard.

Gerald Burgess is charged with nine drug-related offences as well as two charges for careless storage of a firearm.

Crown lawyer Lesley Ann Kilgore told B.C. Supreme Court that Burgess was selling drugs, which he kept at the home he shared with his wife and two teenage children.

Police raided the home in Loon Lake, about 130 kilometres northwest of Kamloops, on Feb. 23, 2011, Kilgore said. Oxycodone and morphine were among the prescription drugs that were found.

Kilgore said Mounties seized six baggies and 18 pill bottles from a dresser in the master bedroom, as well as a loaded shotgun near the top of the bed and another unloaded shotgun underneath a couch in the same room.

On a bedroom coffee table, investigators found a scale and a rock of cocaine, she said. Two cash bundles totalling $1,000 each were stuffed into the bedroom couch.

In other parts of the house, Kilgore said, police uncovered ammunition, more cocaine and 25 additional pill bottles. She said none of the pills were prescribed to Burgess or anyone in his family. (Kamloops This Week)