FILE PHOTO

(ASHLEY LEGASSIC - REPORTER / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - A local woman will spend the next five months in prison after selling cocaine to undercover officers out of a downtown Kamloops apartment unit.

Tamelia Marsh, 49, pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, stemming from an October 2016 investigation by Kamloops RCMP, Crown prosecutor Anthony Varesi told Kamloops Supreme Court today, April 19.

After nearby residents began complaining about a downtown rental unit, police began investigating a unit in a four-plex on St. Paul Street, which was being rented out by Marsh's co-accused in the case.

Police conducted surveillance on and off during the month of October, Varesi said, and witnessed a number of brief visits to the unit which was consistent with drug trafficking.

Around 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27, an undercover officer entered the downtown unit and purchased $20 worth of cocaine and Marsh packaged the product at a table in the residence, he said.

After that, officers prepared a search warrant, Varesi said, and an entry plan was created for another officer to go back and get more drugs later that night.

At approximately 10:30 p.m. an undercover officer went and purchased $20 worth of cocaine, and shortly after uniformed officers executed the search warrant at the residence.

During their search, they found heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, meth and cash in Marsh's purse, Varesi said.

"This was not a dial-a-dope operation, but it was a commercial operation being conducted from a residence in downtown Kamloops," Varesi said.

Varesi and defence lawyer Don Campbell came up with a joint-submission of five months for Marsh, which Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley accepted.

Campbell told the court Marsh's drug addiction began in the years following her divorce, which happened when she was 35 years old.

By 38, she was addicted to heroin and has been ever since. Campbell says Marsh plans on entering a treatment centre after completing her sentence.

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