The former Vancouver police officer caught dealing drugs on the job had his "eyes wide open" when he abused his position of authority to push narcotics on the city's most vulnerable, says the judge who delivered his sentence Thursday.
Married father-of-four Peter Hodson, 33, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of breach of trust by a public officer and one charge of trafficking in a controlled substance. He has now been sentenced to three years in jail.
During sentencing, Provincial Court Judge Gregory Rideout said the officer went to great lengths to plan criminal actions while on-duty and used his badge and uniform to avoid detection, and even promote the perpetration of his drug trafficking.
"The accused became completely disengaged from his moral and ethical duty to protect and serve. The criminal actions … were egregious and the execution of his criminal plan audacious," he wrote in his judgment.
Rideout dismissed the defence application for Hodson to serve his time under house arrest, instead sentencing the former cop to time in a federal prison.
Hodson, who played varsity basketball for Langara College and UBC and founded an African literacy charity, was arrested and fired from the Vancouver Police Department in April 2010 after a two-month investigation by his own force.
His offences date back to December 2009, when he employed Tyson Pappas as a street-level drug dealer to push marijuana in the Downtown Eastside. Some of the deals were done while Hodson was driving a police vehicle.
Rideout said Pappas, who is heavily addicted to crack cocaine and oxycontin, often turned to criminal activity to support his daily drug habit of $100.
Pappas later worked as a police informant during the investigation, saying he made the decision after the officer allegedly broke into his rooming house and threatened him.
Rideout said using Pappas to sell the marijuana was an aggravating factor in his sentencing decision.
"Pappas was clearly a vulnerable Downtown Eastside resident and one who would be psychologically overpowered by the accused," he wrote.
Rideout believes Hodson was motivated to commit the crimes by a combination of thrill-seeking and financial gain.
"Frenetic lifestyle, excessive use of alcohol, boredom and personal issues resulting in infidelity are factors that I have considered, but they do not depart from the fact that ultimately his actions are those of a person who knowingly committed criminal acts," he wrote in the judgment.
At his sentencing hearing in July, a psychologist testified that Hodson is a narcissist who put his needs ahead of others' and whose need for excitement drove him to commit crime.
Dr. Michael Elterman said the former sports star was bored by policing -- a job that he had expected would be much more adventurous -- and decided to push the boundaries to see if he would get caught.
Elterman said Hodson admitted to having multiple affairs with different women, cheating on his university exams and not caring if he lost his job.
While defence lawyer Vincent Michaels asked for Hodson to have a suspended sentence so he could be close to his wife and children, Rideout said a conditional sentence was too lenient for the seriousness of the crime.
Rideout said a message must be sent that police will face severe penalties for such behaviour.
Crown lawyer Joe Bellows called the three-year prison term "very fit and proper."
"He committed his crimes in the Downtown Eastside where people are very vulnerable. I believe the trial judge believed that that was a very aggregating factor," Bellows told reporters outside the courthouse.
Michaels said he will ask that his client be put into segregation from the general prison population.
Michaels reiterated that Hodson has taken full responsibility for his actions, and has proven himself to be an upstanding person in all other aspects of his life.
"These are actions that were committed over a short amount of time in a relatively short life," he said.
"It's my opinion he's going to do his time, reunite with his family and come back to offer more to society."
More than 40 family members, friends and church members sent in character reference letters testifying about Hodson's "prior good character."
Many people, including his wife Sarah, whom he married in 2001, noted that Hodson was a regular churchgoer with a commitment to his personal reformation and rehabilitation.
Vancouver Police Department Chief Jim Chu has called the case "shocking and disturbing."
With files from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
