Ryan Regan appears in this undated Facebook photo.
Image Credit: Facebook
August 12, 2022 - 7:30 AM
An Okanagan man with a lengthy history of stealing cars and dealing drugs has been charged with trafficking carfentanil.
Ryan Patrick Regan, born 1983, is currently in custody awaiting trial on multiple charges that include carfentanil and fentanyl trafficking, along with trafficking meth and possessing a sawn-off shotgun.
According to court documents, Regan was arrested May 5, 2021, in Penticton and found to have carfentanil and fentanyl on him.
While it's relatively common for drug dealers to be arrested for selling fentanyl, it's far rarer to find criminals dealing carfentanil.
The powerful opioid can be 100 times more toxic than fentanyl. According to the province, ingesting just one or two grains of carfentanil can be fatal to humans.
On the same day, he was found to be in possession of carfentanil he was also charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking methamphetamine, having a sawn-off shotgun and stealing a Ford truck in Vernon.
He was also charged with resisting arrest and driving while prohibited.
Regan is no stranger to the law and has previously been charged with trafficking narcotics in 2006 and 2007 and has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 2002 when he would have been 18 or 19 years old.
He made headlines in 2017 when Kelowna RCMP closed the William R. Bennett Bridge for an hour one morning after Regan led them on a lengthy car chase in a stolen vehicle that had started in Penticton.
He was sentenced to three years jail for the long pursuit.
It appears Regan was released on bail after being caught with the carfentanil as he later got busted in Summerland in February.
He faces five weapons charges and two drug trafficking charges for the Summerland incident.
In 2020 the RCMP identified Regan as a Keremeos resident after he was arrested for stealing a pick-up truck in Penticton.
Regan is currently in custody awaiting trial at Vernon Supreme Court on the carfentanil trafficking charges.
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