A B.C. Supreme Court judge has sentenced Jarrod Bacon of Abbotsford to 12 years in prison for conspiracy to traffic cocaine, saying he is “committed to a criminal lifestyle” and has shown no remorse for his actions.
Bacon, 29, declined when asked by Justice Austin Cullen at the beginning of Friday morning’s proceedings in Vancouver whether he had anything to say, and shook his head at the ruling but showed no further reaction.
Taking into account double credit for the two years and five months Bacon has already served, his remaining jail time amounts to seven years and two months.
Crown counsel had recommended a term of 21 years, while defence had said eight years would be more appropriate.
Cullen denied the Crown’s request that Bacon serve half his sentence before being eligible for parole. This means he can now apply for parole after having served one-third of his time.
Cullen said he was giving Bacon the “high end” of a drug conspiracy sentence due to the “considerable” amount of cocaine – 100 kilograms – that could have potentially been trafficked, his lack of remorse for the crime, and his past criminal history.
Bacon has previously been convicted of various offences, including possessing a restricted weapon (brass knuckles), fleeing from a police officer, drug production and driving while prohibited.
At the time of the drug conspiracy, he was on bail for weapons charges, for which he was later acquitted and younger brother Jamie was convicted.
“He appears committed to a criminal lifestyle,” Cullen said.
Bacon and his co-accused Wayne Scott were convicted in February, following a trial, of one count each of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. They were charged in November 2009 following an undercover operation in Abbotsford by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU).
The sentencing hearing for Scott, the maternal grandfather of Bacon’s son, has been adjourned until a later date, which has not yet been determined.
The CFSEU operation involved the use of a police agent who negotiated with Bacon, mainly through Scott, to purchase 100 kg of cocaine purportedly being smuggled from Mexico.
Most of the Crown’s case was based on wiretap evidence gathered by the agent in which Bacon indicated he had a funder that could supply $3 million for the drugs.
Arrangements had been made for the purchase of the first 10 kg for $30,000, with the remainder to be bought 10 kg at a time until it was gone.
The operation was halted by police before any money or drugs could change hands.
Bacon’s defence during the trial was that he had only intended to steal the cocaine from the agent, but had not planned to traffic it. He said he was addicted to steroids and OxyContin at the time.
Bacon is one of three Abbotsford brothers who have been linked to the Red Scorpions gang, which at the time of the conspiracy was embroiled in a street war with the UN Gang.
Older brother Jonathan, 30, was killed last August in a drive-by shooting in Kelowna.
Jamie, 27, is in prison serving a seven-year sentence on the weapons charges. He is also awaiting trial in the Surrey Six slayings in which six people, including two innocent men, were fatally shot in a Surrey apartment building in October 2007.
