Pubdate: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 Source: Powell River Peak (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Peak Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.prpeak.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/734 Author: Isabelle Southcott Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) COCAINE TAKES TOLL ON POWELL RIVER SYSTEM RCMP corporal points out the need for community involvement to reduce the use of illicit drugs Police say some of the people moving to the Powell River area are down on their luck and have a tainted background. "One of the reasons they're coming here is they can get into affordable rentals or purchase property and get into illegal drug activity," said RCMP Corporal Dennis Blanch. Crack cocaine use is on the rise in Powell River. "It's the drug of the day," Blanch said. "A lot of people are dealing to the blue collar crowd who still think that cocaine is a recreational drug. They don't think that it will have an everlasting effect on them, but it does." He points to what's happening in Powell River right now. "Break-ins, assaults, overdoses, motor vehicle accidents, a number of things related to drug use or drug abuse." Crack cocaine is seriously addictive. "We talked to a couple of crack cocaine users here and they say it is probably the worst drug out there. The highs are short-lived and there is a never-ending craving for the next toke on the pipe." Not only does crack cocaine carry with it a dependency burden, there's also the financial burden. At $40 for half a gram on the street, crack cocaine is costly to those who use it, as well as to the community and to society. "It creates a whole parameter of issues that we as a community are left to deal with," said Blanch. He flips through the file of a man by the name of Eduar Melvin Banegas-Raudales who was awaiting trial in Powell River Provincial Court on August 4, 2004 but was arrested by police on an immigration warrant before he made it inside the courtroom. "This guy was dealing with crack cocaine," he pointed out. On July 25, 2004, an immigration warrant for Banegas-Raudales's arrest was issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada as a removal order. Immigration officers attended Banegas-Raudales's residence at the Kispiox Village Reserve at New Hazelton, BC but were unable to locate him. A wanted poster of Banegas-Raudales was then prepared and given to the New Hazelton area police detachment and to Powell River RCMP. Because he had lived in Powell River in the past, officials believed he might return to this area. Information on Banegas-Raudales's warrant states that he entered Canada on April 2, 2001, at or near the Douglas Border Crossing, and made a refugee claim two days later. On May 16, 2001, charges recommended by the Vancouver Police Department for possession of trafficking cocaine were approved and he was charged. He was convicted on these charge on November 8. On August 26, he was charged again with possession for the purpose of trafficking. A deportation order was issued on May 23, 2002. Banegas-Raudales and his girlfriend, later wife, Jessica Muldon, first came to the attention of Powell River RCMP in 2002. On September 4 of that year, local RCMP received a complaint of drug dealing taking place out of a residence on Queens Avenue. They were told a Mexican-looking male and his girlfriend were dealing drugs from their residence and on the street in front of their residence. In May 2003 police received information from a group of neighbours that they believed a Honduran male (Banegas-Raudales was born in Honduras) and his girlfriend were dealing drugs in their neighbourhood. It was also believed that the couple was operating a dial-a-dope operation. On September 3, police arrested Banegas-Raudales and Muldon, who were returning from Vancouver on the bus with their one-year-old baby. They found a large diaper wrapped at the bottom of the bag. In it was four ounces of rock cocaine with an approximate street value of $10,000. The police report notes that while Banegas-Raudales was a refugee in Canada and applying for immigration status he was convicted of one trafficking charge, had another waiting for disposition and then was up on a third charge. "To make matters even worse they are trafficking within one block of Edgehill Elementary School and are moving drugs around and selling drugs around a one-year-old child," states the police report. When Banegas-Raudales was arrested at the courthouse in August 2004, he was put on a plane headed for Honduras. En route, the plane touched down in the United States and he was removed by American immigration officials. On December 21, 2004, Muldon was found guilty in Smithers Provincial Court for possession for the purpose of trafficking. She was sentenced to four months in jail but was given credit for time served. Meanwhile, Powell River RCMP stress the issue of illicit drugs is a community issue that everyone needs to get behind. "We need members of the community to come forward to advise of the activities they see. Things need to change, but the only way I see change happening is for the community to speak out," said Blanch. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin