Jail time for B.C. man in bust that uncovered enough drugs to fatally dose a sold-out Canucks crowd 4 times

A man convicted in what British Columbia Mounties called their detachment's largest-ever seizure of drugs, weapons and cash will serve more than a decade behind bars.

The Maple Ridge, B.C., resident learned his fate in court earlier this week. During an appearance in New Westminster, he received a sentence of 14 years for his convictions.

With credit for time in custody before his sentencing, he’s expected to serve another 11 years, 118 days.

Christopher Leigh Harmes was charged in 2020 with several offences in connection with the bust in his city.

The RCMP said at the time its officers had seized approximately 35,280 street doses of fentanyl in its investigation, as well as about 20,200 doses of meth, nearly 5,000 doses of cocaine 11,000 doses of ketamine and 844 pills believed to be codeine or morphine.

Police said the volume of drugs was enough to give a potentially lethal dose to everyone at a sold-out Vancouver Canucks home game four times.

"No community should have this amount of drugs on their streets," Insp. Aaron Paradis said in a news release in August 2020.

According to the RCMP, a five-month-long investigation and the search of homes in Maple Ridge and Mission also turned up a semi-automatic pistol, fully-automatic sub-machine gun with sawed off barrel, makeshift silencer, several boxes of ammunition, gun parts, a broken down firearm receiver and hard body armour.

The Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment said it also found $114,439 in cash.

The RCMP announced nine weapons-related charges against Harmes at the time, and said it was forwarding another 11 related to the drugs.

According to court documents outlining his sentencing hearing, Harmes "invited the court to enter convictions" on all counts, which added up to 15 in total.

The Crown suggested a sentence of 16 years in prison for those convictions, while Harmes and his legal team suggested 12 would be appropriate.

The judge appears to have split the difference, opting for 14 to "deter him and others from engaging in such pernicious conduct in the future."

He'll also have to submit a DNA sample to be kept in the national databank, and is prohibited from owning any firearm, crossbow, restricted weapon, ammo or explosive for life.

The judge took several factors into account, including Harmes' difficult start to life. A pre-sentence report said the 38-year-old grew up in a home where he was exposed to domestic abuse and violence, largely tied to his father's substance abuse. He had a good relationship with his mother, but struggled in school and was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a teen. He dropped out of school in Grade 10.

By that point, according to the report, he'd been using drugs for five years. The report said he began drinking alcohol and using marijuana and LSD in Grade 5, when he would have been about 10 years old.

At just 12, he was given methamphetamine by his father, and he continued to use it and cocaine as he got older. He started selling drugs to support himself, and saw many of his friends tied to the drug trade die.

Those deaths, when he was 17, had an impact on Harmes, and he was sober for five years before an injury led to a return to dealing – which he saw as a "valid backup plan," according to his sentence.

Harmes also had convictions related to prohibited weapons in 2006, and drug trafficking and firearms in 2010, 2012 and 2015.

Interestingly, the court heard he said he made a point of testing the drugs he sold to protect others. This appears to be backed up by the discovery of testing results in his residence.

In the two years since his arrest in Maple Ridge, Harmes obtained his high-school equivalency and graduated, and is training in plumbing.

He previously worked in construction and roofing, and a former employer said he was hardworking and respectful at that time.

Before being sentenced, Harmes apologized and asked the court not to give up on him, but said he understood the severity of his crime and would take whatever punishment was issued.