B.C. woman caught trafficking millions of dollars worth of fentanyl gets 8-year sentence

The Victoria provincial courthouse as seen on November 3, 2021. (CTV News)

A B.C. woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison for drug trafficking after she was caught on her way to a ferry terminal with a brick of fentanyl worth millions of dollars.

Carrie Dinh, 35, was convicted of one count of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance for the purposes of trafficking last April. Her sentence was handed down by Supreme Court Justice Gordon C. Weatherill in Victoria on Jan. 10, and published online Tuesday.

On the day of her arrest in May 2019, the court heard Dinh travelled by ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen, then drove to a Langley parking lot. She exchanged bags with someone there, and put the blue cloth bag she received in her trunk.

The court heard police watched her movements and the interaction on surveillance camera, and arrested Dinh while she was on the way back to the Tsawwassen terminal.

The brick of fentanyl in Dinh’s car weighed just short of one kilogram—994 grams—and had a purity between 62 and 71 per cent, according to the decision. Crown prosecutors said that the fentanyl had a potential street value between $5 and $9 million, depending on how it was cut, buffed and sold. And the number of potential doses it contained ranged between 200,000 and 600,000.

‘EXCELLENT PROSPECTS FOR REHABILITATION’

The court heard that Dinh has no prior criminal record, showed remorse and is “highly unlikely to reoffend.”

A brief history of the offender states she was born in Victoria and currently lives with a partner in Mission. She has “some debt,” and owns no significant assets.

The decision notes that Dinh is in good physical health, and is not addicted to any substances. She did report, however, suffering from anxiety, depression and PTSD as a result of childhood trauma—namely being sexually abused at the age of eight, after which she was put in the foster care system for 10 years. Dinh also reported suffering verbal and physical abuse from “at least one former intimate partner.”

The court heard Dinh has “a large and supportive social network” and her lawyer provided 15 “glowing letters” from friends, relatives and co-workers.

“They described her as kind, caring, compassionate, thoughtful, trustworthy, loyal, selfless, reliable, resilient, and a hardworking, driven person with a heart of gold who puts the needs of others ahead of her own and who has had a positive influence on the lives of many people in her life,” Weatherill wrote.

The judge said the letters show Dinh is “highly employable and has excellent prospects for rehabilitation.”

“It appears that Ms. Dinh is a person who led a productive and law abiding life, but made a mistake that was out of character and became involved in the drug trafficking world. It appears that since her conviction, she has returned to a productive and law abiding life,” he continued.

The defence argued for a sentence between four and six years. The court heard that Dinh claimed she didn’t know what specific substance she had in her possession.

“She maintains that she should have asked more questions and been more certain about what she was getting herself into. She says that she is embarrassed and remorseful for having done what she did,” the decision reads.

Among the mitigating factors Dinh’s defence brought forward was the fact that she was a “mere courier,” with less moral blameworthiness than an “organizing mind in the drug trafficking.”

‘DRUG TRAFFICKING IS A SCOURGE ON OUR SOCIETY’

The Crown conceded that Dinh was a “mere courier,” but argued for a nine-year sentence. Prosecutors said aggravating factors included “the quantity and extraordinarily high purity of the fentanyl,” and how much it was worth.

Other factors were that Dinh was part of a “high-end trafficking operation,” even though in a lesser role, and that she committed the crime for personal financial gain.

When deciding on Dinh’s sentence, Weatherill considered the ones handed down in similar fentanyl trafficking cases, citing a previous decision that said deterrence and denunciation “must feature prominently” in sentencing due to the particular dangers fentanyl poses—playing a large role in B.C.’s overdose crisis.

“Drug trafficking is a scourge on our society, rooted in greed on the part of those who perpetrate it. Many vulnerable people are dying as a result of that greed,” he said.

Weatherill told the court Dinh was at the “upper end of the courier spectrum of intentional risk taking and the consequential harm that would have been involved,” given the quantity and purity of the drugs she carried.

“Her role was integral to facilitating the placement of fentanyl on the street,” he continued. “There is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Dinh either knew, was wilfully blind to, or recklessly disregarded the obvious: she was engaged in the trafficking of illegal drugs.”

“Ms. Dinh's moral blameworthiness is not attenuated by the fact that she was a mere courier," he added. 

When standing to hear her fate, Dinh is transcribed as saying “I apologize for any wrongdoing.”

In addition to the eight-year sentence, Dinh received a lifetime firearms prohibition and must submit a DNA sample.

She received credit for one day in custody prior to sentencing.