Selina Mitchell is led into a Sheriff's vehicle after being sentenced to jail.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Betton said he "admired and respected" the steps that Selina Mitchell had taken in the four years since she was arrested for being a "mid-level" fentanyl dealer.

He then sent her to prison for three years.

At the Vernon courthouse today, Sept. 27, Mitchell wiped tears from her eyes as the justice read out the sentence.

The court heard how the 38-year-old had worked as a mid-level drug dealer running a workforce of dial-a-dope dealers in Vernon and Lake Country.

In 2018 when she was arrested, police found $30,000 of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine at a Lake Country stash house. The drugs were well organized into more than one hundred packages. Police also found a knife and pepper spray.

In the four years since her arrest, Mitchell had kicked her own drug habit and made what the Justice described as "significant steps" in her life.

However, Justice Betton pointed out that in 2018, when she was arrested, 24 people had died from fentanyl overdoses in Vernon.

"One can pause for a moment to think that at the time Ms. Mitchell was doing this there were people dying in this community, they are not just statistics, they are individuals, brothers, mothers, sons, fathers," he said.

Fast forward four years and 1,095 people died from the toxic drug supply provincewide in the first six months of this year – an average of six deaths per day.

Since her arrest, Mitchell has been living at the Round House treatment centre and the court heard glowing reports about her progress.

The court heard Mitchell was Métis and had faced many systemic issues that affect Indigenous people.

Justice Betton read out a long list.

"Exposure to drugs and alcohol... exposure to domestic violence... physical and mental abuse... sexual abuse ... emotional abuse and neglect," he said.

She also spent time in the foster care system.

However, her introduction to drugs and crime happened fairly late in life.

In 2015 her partner died and she started using oxycodone.

Her exposure to opioids spiralled from there and she descended into addiction.

She's been left with a brain injury after two overdoses – within 24 hours – in 2017.

Unusual in these cases, Mitchell only had one previous criminal conviction. She had stolen her mother's credit card after she became an addict.

When police caught up with her in 2018 she was a "mid-level" dealer of a dial-a-dope operation.

Justice Betton said text messages shown to the court presented her as a "supportive manager" of a sales team.

"Her role required a level of organization and skill," the Justice said.

Mitchell would organize the lower-level dial-a-dope dealers, do the bookkeeping and deal with supply chain issues, as well as incentivize the dealers with signing bonuses and encourage them to sell.

Text messages between Mitchell and a higher-level dealer said they wanted to take all the lower-level drug dealers out for dinner as a thank-you reward for working hard.

Defence lawyer Justin Dosanjh had argued Mitchell was driven by her addictions and was now sober and asked for a sentence of house arrest.

"This is a particularly challenging case," the Justice said. "She has shown sincere remorse and insight... and I fully understand that imposing a sentence of more than two years in custody is one that will pull you from the environment you are currently in."

However, the Justice stressed the importance of denunciation and deterrence and ultimately sentenced Mitchell to three years in jail.

She was then led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

READ MORE: No jail for low-level Vernon carfentanil dealer

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