Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
January 20, 2017 - 10:21 AM
KAMLOOPS - The former Kamloops police officer who pleaded guilty to one count of simple drug possession won't spend any time behind bars and she won't have a criminal record.
Randi Love, 41, appeared in Kamloops Provincial Court today, Jan. 20. Her family members also attended to hear Judge James Threlfall give his decision.
Justice Threlfall sided with defence lawyer Brad Smith's submissions and sentenced Love to a conditional discharge with 12 months of probation. Crown prosecutor Gerry Sair had asked for a suspended sentence, with the same probation conditions.
Although both lawyers agreed Love should not have to spend time behind bars, Sair submitted a conviction should be entered into Love's record.
Threlfall, who appeared by video from Kelowna, read in his decision that Love had suffered greatly due to the extensive media coverage of her case, a point both lawyers focussed on during sentencing submissions.
Love was originally charged with three counts of trafficking cocaine, but those charges were stayed by the Crown after she pleaded guilty to simple possession.
READ MORE: Former Kamloops cop was self-medicating after years of hardship
"Ms. Love did not sell cocaine to anyone," Threlfall said.
Court has heard the trafficking charges stemmed from Love transporting the drug on three separate occasions. She had sent messages to a drug dealer on Facebook on three days in June 2015, with the goal of getting cocaine for her friends.
No drugs were actually found in the investigation, but Smith has told the court Love was self-medicating to deal with the death of her father, a severe neck and back injury she suffered on the job, and sexual harassment from a Kamloops RCMP Staff Sergeant.
Smith said Love had experimented with the drug on those three occasions in June as a form of coping.
Love became a member of the Kamloops RCMP detachment in 2005. She will need to serve 50 hours of community service in the first five months of her probation.
Threlfall said he's aware of Love's plans to become a counsellor and improve her life.
"I accept that she is genuinely remorseful."
Find past stories on this case here.
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