B.C. man gets 18 months in jail after undercover Mountie delivers Tasers to home

This Nov. 14, 2013, file photo, shows a Taser X26 on display. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

A British Columbia man has been sentenced to 18 months in jail after an undercover Mountie delivered a package containing two imported Tasers to a home in the Okanagan.

James Ashley Jerome Cousineau, 44, pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon. He told the court he ordered the weapons as a "joke" when he was drunk, according to provincial court Judge Clarke Burnett's sentencing decision on Dec. 13.

The police investigation began after the Canadian Border Services Agency intercepted a package containing two Tasers on Dec. 21, 2021, and alerted the RCMP. The package was addressed to Cousineau at a residence in Naramata, B.C.

Ten days later, the CBSA contacted the Mounties again after two more packages for Cousineau, containing a total of nine Tasers, were identified bound for a residence in Penticton, B.C.

It was then that the RCMP decided to conduct a "controlled delivery" of the first package to the Naramata home.

'ALL THIS FOR A TASER'

On Jan 19, 2022, an undercover officer delivered the package containing two Tasers to the residence. Police had outfitted the package with an alarm to alert officers once the package had been opened.

"Shortly after delivery, the alarm went off indicating the package had been opened," the judge wrote. "Members of the RCMP Emergency Response Team secured the residence pending receipt of a search warrant."

Cousineau, his girlfriend and two other people were found inside the home, according to the court document.

"Man this is crazy," Cousineau said to police who were securing the residence, according to the judge. "All this for a Taser."

A search of the home recovered the two Tasers as well as various guns, including a shotgun, a rifle, a prohibited high-capacity magazine loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition, a 9mm pistol and a prohibited .22-calibre Luger rifle fitted with a prohibited silencer, according to the sentencing decision.

At the time of the search, Cousineau was prohibited from possessing any weapons following a "lengthy criminal record" that includes convictions for drug trafficking and assault with a weapon, the judge wrote.

Cousineau's criminal record and weapons prohibitions were cited as aggravating factors at sentencing, as was the apparent planning that went into the purchase of the Tasers.

"This was not a spontaneous offence," the judge wrote. "Mr. Cousineau took steps to seek out and acquire multiple Tasers. He had to acquire them outside of Canada. He arranged three separate shipments of them, addressed to two different addresses."

Cousineau's guilty plea was cited as a mitigating factor, as was his support from community members who "have indicated a willingness to assist in his rehabilitation."

"I am mindful of the fact that I am only sentencing Mr. Cousineau for the offence of possession of the Taser; I am not sentencing him for importing the Tasers or any other offences related to the firearms or other prohibited devices," the judge wrote.

"However, the facts surrounding the acquiring by Mr. Cousineau of the Taser and the presence of the firearms and prohibited devices in the same location where the Taser was discovered are extremely aggravating."

In addition to 18 months imprisonment, Cousineau was ordered to submit a DNA sample and forfeit all the property seized during the police search to the Crown.