Woman sentenced to three years for crack-ring role

A Winnipeg woman who admitted her role in a Point Douglas crack cocaine ring was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday, dashing her hopes of serving her time under house arrest due to her deteriorating health.

Amanda Rouse, 56, was among nearly two dozen people arrested in April 2021 following a five-month Winnipeg police investigation dubbed Project Matriarch targeting admitted ringleader Sandra Guiboche, 60.

Guiboche’s Point Douglas drug ring supplied crack to the inner-city neighbourhood for decades.

Rouse pleaded guilty in Court of King’s Bench last October to one count of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, but her sentencing was delayed in March after her defence lawyer asked for medical reports to be completed.

The reports indicated Rouse is suffering from gastric-related and respiratory health issues.

Her lawyer, Mitch Merriott, had used her health issues to recommend she be given a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served under house arrest, so she could continue to seek specialized medical care in Winnipeg, whereas the Crown asked for three years.

On Wednesday, Court of King’s Bench Justice Jeffrey Harris said her crime deserves a penitentiary sentence — and that there’s no evidence to suggest she won’t get adequate health care in federal prison.

“The court has an obligation to signal its denunciation of the conduct of Ms. Rouse and other members of the (drug organization) clearly and emphatically,” Harris told court.

“There is no evidence as to how Ms. Rouse will be affected by serving a prison sentence and no evidence that she cannot be treated within a federal institution. Indeed, there’s a statutory duty on Correctional Service Canada to provide her with health care. The onus is on Ms. Rouse to establish that her health conditions cannot be properly or adequately addressed by the prison authorities. In my view, she has not discharged that onus.”

She will also be ordered to hand over her DNA to law enforcement and be banned from possessing weapons for 10 years upon her release.

Police seized more than $2.3 million in property and drugs as part of the Project Matriarch investigation, with criminal forfeitures filed for 10 residential properties in Point Douglas and nine bank accounts held by Guiboche.

In a 2021 sworn affidavit, provincial property forfeiture officials alleged Guiboche had been selling drugs in Point Douglas for 25 years and is known for selling pink-coloured crack cocaine — a branding for her illicit product.

Guiboche and Rouse were one-time partners in a now-defunct home renovation business, S and M Reno and Rays, after meeting in 2005, before a falling out in 2010. The two reconnected in 2020, when Rouse began using cocaine again.

An agreed statement of facts provided to court said Rouse was co-owner of five of the properties, three of which were rented out to members of the drug ring and used to stash cocaine.

Rouse stashed drugs at her own Talbot Avenue home in return for cash and drugs.

She also helped Guiboche with her taxes and laundered drug proceeds under the guise of rental income.

Evidence gathered in the police investigation included more than 60,000 wiretap recordings, on a number of which Guiboche and Rouse could be heard discussing laundering drug proceeds at casinos, day-to-day operations in the drug ring and how to avoid detection from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Federal Crown prosecutor Kate Henley previously said some of the wiretaps suggest Rouse was making efforts to “disentangle” herself from the drug enterprise, including trying to remove herself from title of the drug houses.

In a pre-sentence report, Rouse said she was “intimidated” by Guiboche, which Henley said was in line with evidence suggesting Guiboche had threatened or ordered violence against those in the organization who crossed her.

Guiboche has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and is awaiting sentencing. The Crown has argued she should spend 10 years in prison.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca