Between 18 March 2011 and 14 November 2012, Corrections Officer of the British Columbia Corrections Branch provided prison inmates at the Surrey Pre-Trial Remand Centre that were members of a criminal organization with contraband, including a telephone and anabolic steroids. In exchange for the contraband, Sedrick Dang, the Correction Officer, received approximately CAD 30,000.
The Court ordered the seizure of all items seized from the prison as part of the investigation: a screwdriver, a BlackBerry cellular telephone with a battery and a charger, as well as anabolic steroids.
Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 490.1
Provincial Court of British Columbia
Sedrick Dang pleaded guilty to corruplty accepting a sum of money with the intent to interfere with the administration of justic by delivering contraband to prison inmates. The defendant also pleaded guilty to a breach of trust in connections with his duties as a Corrections Officer by briging contraband to prison inmates.
The Court sentenced the defendant to four years' inprisonment considering the aggravating circumstance that the acts of the defendant had benefited a criminal organization within the prison.
Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 120
Bribery of officers
Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 122
Breach of trust by public officer
Provincial Court of British Columbia
This case provides an example of how the link of an offence to an organized criminal group can be taken into account by courts. In this case, the fact that the contraband brought to the prison by the Corrections Officer had benefited an organized criminal group was taken into account by the court as one of the aggravating factors in its sentencing.