FILE PHOTO.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

A Vernon drug dealer who was caught selling drugs while on bail for drug trafficking will spend a few more years behind bars.

David Lee Junior McIntosh had been barred from driving having been caught with fentanyl, meth and crack cocaine and was supposed to be under house arrest when police spotted him behind the wheel of a vehicle.

He was promptly arrested and police uncovered more fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.

The 32-year-old didn't make bail this time and remained in custody for more than a year before BC Supreme Court Justice Steven Wilson handed down four and half-year jail sentence on May 9.

Accounting for time already spent behind bars, McIntosh will spend roughly another three years in jail.

According to a May 9 BC Supreme Court decision, McIntosh was first arrested in May 2022 when police were following a stolen vehicle.

After pulling him over, RCMP officers uncovered 19 grams of fentanyl, 15 grams of cocaine, and 36 grams of methamphetamine along with other drugs. While not explained in the court document, McIntosh wasn't charged with drug-related offences after this incident.

Seven months later he was seen driving although he'd be banned and he fled from police when they tried to arrest him. Drugs were found in the vehicle along with cell phone messages that were consistent with drug trafficking, the decision said.

It was while on bail for this offence he was busted again.

The decision said Mcintosh had a "dysfunctional, chaotic, and unstable" upbringing.

"He was never surrounded by good influences and the sorts of behaviours that most do not have to experience were normal to him," Justice Wilson said in the decision.

He started smoking cannabis at age 13 and by 19 was using heroin and meth. He left high school in Grade 9 or 10 and has worked little in his life.

Justice Wilson said it was aggravating that McIntosh had previous convictions for drug dealing and fleeing from police.

However, Justice Wilson said McIntosh had made "significant" steps since being in jail.

The Justice said he had finished Grade 12 and scored 99% in an Automotive Technician Program.

"It is clear that Mr. Mcintosh sounds like he has now recognized that what has happened in the past he can put behind him and he can look forward to creating a new life," Justice Wilson said. "This is providing him with an opportunity for a reset and to recognize that what has happened in the past does not necessarily have to happen in the future."

Along with almost another three years in jail, McIntoosh was given a lifetime firearms ban and ordered to give a DNA sample.

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