Less than a year after their arrest, the major GHB dealers caught during a historic police strike quickly pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from five to seven years depending on their role in this Hells Angels-linked network.
“These are significant sentences. “It’s a quick plea, in a case of this nature… that’s rare,” commented Me Steve Baribeau, Crown prosecutor, as he left the Saint-Jérôme courthouse last Friday.
In the afternoon, Sébastien Turcotte, 44 years old, Éric Matte, 42 years old, and Jean-Philippe Robitaille, 45 years old, were sentenced to 7, 6 and 5 years in prison respectively, following joint proposals from those involved in the proceedings. .
Sébastien Turcotte Photo from Sébastien Turcotte’s Facebook page
After their arrest last February, the trio faced a series of allegations of involvement in a network for the large-scale production and trafficking of GHB, a so-called date rape drug, in the Montreal area.
They would have traded mainly in Delson, Longueuil and Terrebonne.
Big seizure
According to our sources, these suspects had connections to the Hells Angels.
Notably, the search that led to her loss was described by a specialist in the field as “the largest GHB seizure in Quebec history.”
Éric Matte during his arrest at his residence on Rue du Florilège in Terrebonne. MAXIME DELAND/AGENCE QMI Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
However, according to the statement of facts, they still admitted to having taken part in such activity over a period of four months, between December 2021 and April 2022.
During this period they produced an astronomical amount of single doses of GHB, tens of millions as we can read.
The laboratory was located at Turcotte, the leader of the group, on Rue du Florilège in Terrebonne. And it was, among other things, his brother-in-law Robitaille who procured the products necessary to produce the drug.
Jean-Philippe Robitaille Photo from Mélanie Turcotte’s Facebook page
Money confiscated
An amount of more than $340,000 was also seized by the Quebec Attorney General in this case.
After being in custody since February, the defendants recently decided to settle their case. It took two full days of “arbitration debates” to reach a verdict.
Once released, the three traffickers will be back behind bars next January to serve their sentences.
They had no previous convictions.
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