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Concurrent sentence rejected for twice-convicted fentanyl dealer

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Months after Aladin Abdelgadir was arrested for dealing fentanyl, he was caught again for the same crime.

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Recognizing he was going to prison, the 24-year-old Hamilton man urged his lawyer to ask Justice Robert Gee that he be allowed to serve his two sentences at the same time.

“Why would I make it concurrent?” asked the Ontario Court judge.

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“They were separate offences committed at separate times. You knew the jeopardy of getting back into the drug business once you were released on bail for trafficking the first time.

“If I made it concurrent, there would be no sanction for the first offence, so I’m not going to.”

Instead, Gee sentenced Abdelgadir to one year for his first offence and an additional four for his second. After getting credit for time served, Abdelgadir was sent to prison for a further two years, 11 months and 24 days and ordered to have no weapons for 10 years after his release.

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Abdelgadir pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. Several other charges from his second arrest were withdrawn, including assaulting police and breach of bail.

When arrested the first time, Abdelgadir was with Khalid Ahmed Mohamed and two others in a BMW parked downtown. An officer noticed Mohamed, the vehicle’s owner, was wanted on an outstanding warrant.

A search of the car and the occupants turned up about $45,000 in drugs and money, including crack cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and codeine.

Abdelgadir made bail after 22 days and was released to await trial but, on July 18, was again arrested. He was seen with Mohamed, who has since pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, failing to attend court and breaking his bail conditions a week after his arrest. Mohamed was sentenced a year ago to time served of 210 days and two years in prison.

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“You were caught in April, released on bail and, within months, you picked up where you left off and were caught with significant quantities of the drug,” said Gee.

“You weren’t supporting a habit. You were in the drug business for the purposes of financial gain. It was greed.”

Gee indicated the sentence could have been much longer if not for Abdelgadir’s youth, relatively minor criminal history and his supportive family.

In 2017, Abdelgadir was among three people, armed with a firearm and a knife, who entered a Simcoe home and assaulted the resident.

He pleaded guilty to possession of an illegal drug and failing to comply with bail conditions and got a 42-day sentence. One of his accomplices was Coby Carter, who, in July, was murdered in what Brantford Police called a planned act.

“The trafficking of fentanyl is always going to end up with a significant jail sentence,” Gee told Abdelgadir.

“It’s becoming a scourge in this community and across the country and we’re going to do our part to discourage people from getting involved in it.”

SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble

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