The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Drug Section arrested numerous individuals suspected of involvement in anabolic steroid and other drug trafficking in a 2005-2007 joint forces investigation codenamed Operation Jellybean. The steroid bust was one of the largest in Canadian history and disrupted hundreds of thousands of dollars in anabolic steroids sales throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and even Ontario.
Twenty individuals were charged with drug-related crimes involving bodybuilding-related drugs e.g. anabolic steroids, prescription drugs, and ephedrine as a result of Operation Jellybean. However, Operation Jellybean has been beset with numerous problems with convictions overturned for several defendants and numerous charges dismissed for others on technicalities.
Jocelyn Clark, who was charged on several steroid-related charges, had several charges dismissed by the Queen’s Bench judge.
The charges against Clark that Ferguson dismissed were six counts of conspiracy to traffic in illegal steroids, four counts of conspiracy to sell Ephedrine (an appetite suppressant and decongestant), one count of conspiracy to traffic in Stanazolol (a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from testosterone) and four firearms offences.
She still faces six counts of possession of the proceeds of crime, for which she’s charged jointly with Spencer Gordon Court.
Several other non-steroid related cases were overturned as part of Operation Jellybean as well.
The New Brunswick Court of Appeals overturned a 2-1/2 year prison sentence on Jellybean-related charges for Christopher Gregory Trites last week.
Timothy Clayton Price had his 11-year prison sentence overturned in December.
Fabian Troy Kelly had his 22-month prison sentence overturned after the Court of Appeals ruled that police violated his rights during a raid of his home.
The Queen’s Bench judge concluded that the large, unwieldy nature of the Operation Jellybean investigation was to blame for the dismissals.
“This series of cases against all of the various accused surely qualifies to be termed a ‘mega file.’ There were a number of accused charged with a multiplicity of offences, and there were many separate but temporally concurrent proceedings being carried out,” he wrote.
“The evidence discloses that wiretap evidence was involved and that the file volume was quantified by size in terms of banker’s boxes of material.
“This was not a routine impaired-driving case where the file could proceed through the system almost on autopilot from an administrative standpoint. It required oversight by the key participants that, unfortunately, was not adequately provided.”
Several additional steroid cases from Operation Jellybean have yet to work their ways through the court systems.
About Millard Baker