CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - A P.E.I. man who was caught with hundreds of hydromorphone pills in his Jeep was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison.
Kenneth Joseph King, 55, appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown for sentencing after King pleaded guilty to possessing hydromorphone for the purpose of trafficking
He was also sentenced for possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking after Orr found him guilty of that offence in June.
On Wednesday, the court heard Charlottetown police arrested King in February after he left the Confederation Bridge in Borden-Carleton.
The police had received a tip that King was travelling to New Brunswick in connection with drug trafficking.
After King’s arrest, the police seized several hundred hydromorphone pills of varying sizes.
Federal Crown attorney Chris White told the court the hydromorphone had an estimated street value of around $25,000 to $30,000.
In June, Orr found King guilty of possessing after a trial where she heard King threw a bottle that held bags of cocaine out a car window before the police arrested him in April.
Related: P.E.I. man found guilty of possessing cocaine for purpose of trafficking
King had testified the cocaine was for his personal use, but Orr found the Crown had established beyond a reasonable doubt he had it for trafficking.
During the sentencing Wednesday, White said that King’s travel across the Confederation Bridge suggested interjurisdictional hydromorphone trafficking.
White also said King was caught with the cocaine a little more than a month after his arrest in Borden-Carleton.
Orr said the time between the two offences was an aggravating factor when it came to sentencing.
She sentenced King to 20 months in jail for possessing hydromorphone for the purpose of trafficking and 16 months on the second charge.
King spent 126 days in custody before his sentencing.
Orr gave him six months of credit leaving him with 30 months still to serve on his sentence.
King must provide a DNA sample for the national databank and will be under a weapons prohibition.
He also forfeited $378.70 in cash, several cellphones and a Jeep Grand Cherokee the police seized after his arrests.
