Skip to content

Updated: Drug dealer took advantage of provincial support program

Crown prosecutor calls for seven-year sentence
11212623_web1_Winter-Courthouse

A Red Deer drug dealer peddled prescription pills he got for free under a provincial income support program.

Allie Gader, 59, who suffers from back and hip ailments, was able to fulfill multiple prescriptions at no cost because he was on the Assured Income for the Severely Disabled (AISH) program, a Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench sentencing judge heard Wednesday.

Last October, Gader pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, and one count of possession of the proceeds of crime.

The drugs included the sedatives triazolam, oxycodone, hydromorphone and morphine. About 350 pills worth $2,500 to $4,000 were involved in the guilty plea charges.

Crown prosecutor Kent Brown said Gader was behind a “complicated, organized scheme” that amounted to the wholesale sale of drugs. In calling for a seven-year sentence, Brown said Gader had 45 prior related convictions.

Defence lawyer Joshua Asp said Gader was prescribed painkillers 12 years ago for his back problems and lapsed into addiction.

Asp said Gader was not a drug wholesaler, but a “low-level peddlar of prescription pills.” A four- to five-year sentence is appropriate, he said.

Madame Justice June Ross is expected to deliver her sentence Thursday.

Wednesday’s sentencing hearing took place against the unusual backdrop of a hearing into allegations Gader’s constitutional rights were violated.

In his notice of constitutional argument, Asp called for a stay to the proceedings because of the alleged violations.

Gader claims his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were infringed upon when he was allegedly beaten by an Edmonton Remand Centre guard in June 2015.

It is also alleged that in January 2017, a Red Deer Crown prosecutor “compelled private medical records from the Bonnyville Indian-Métis Rehabilitation Centre without warrant, by threatening staff with subpoena to court.”

The nine-day rehabilitation centre stay happened in November 2016. Gader then returned to prison and remains in custody.

Brown argued Tuesday the Crown prosecutor did nothing wrong and had not specifically requested medical records.

Crown prosecutor and defence submissions on the alleged beating have been on hold because Edmonton Remand Centre video, supposedly showing the incident, was not available.

Brown told the judge Wednesday he expected to get the video later in the day, and it will be played in court Thursday.