‘This is your second chance’: Ontario woman caught with 29 grams of fentanyl avoids prison

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Deciding what to do with Nicole Joseph was one of the most difficult sentencing decisions Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes has had to make.

The veteran Southwestern Ontario judge was asked about a month ago to choose between house arrest and prison for Joseph, a 30-year-old Sarnia First Nation woman who has pulled off a dramatic life turnaround from a severe fentanyl addiction after being charged with trafficking in a $100,000 drug bust.

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Raikes returned Friday and went with two years’ house arrest, a verdict that drew tears from Joseph and her supporters in the Sarnia courthouse gallery, but he also commented on how difficult it was to decide.

After spending about an hour explaining how he landed on that decision, Raikes told the Aamjiwnaang First Nation woman he believed in her and the new pro-social direction her life is heading.

“This is your second chance,” he said. “Don’t waste it.”

Friday marked the end of a case that started three years ago. Sarnia police started investigating Jordan Nahmabin-Shaw, 31, on suspicions of drug trafficking in the fall of 2021.

Months later, police raided a Leopold Drive home on April 7, 2022, and found 119 grams of fentanyl worth about $24,000 and 22 grams of raw, uncut fentanyl valued at about $78,000, along with other drugs. Although Nahmabin-Shaw, who was caught selling fentanyl twice that year, was the target of the probe, Joseph, then a 27-year-old drug-addicted woman who was also struggling with homelessness, was caught with 29 grams of fentanyl, about 2.5 grams of meth, and about $6,000 cash in a fanny pack.

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She pleaded guilty in September to possessing fentanyl for trafficking and about a month ago both lawyers argued what her sentence should be. Her lawyer, Luigi Perzia, pushed for a sentence she could serve at home or at her rehab facility as she’s impressed many in her First Nation community with her newfound sobriety.

Joseph initially struggled with her addiction after the Leopold Drive arrest. She was granted bail but landed back in jail fourth months later as she was one of three people charged after $93,000 in drugs were found in a car in a traffic stop in Sarnia on Aug. 26, 2022.

She was later cleared of those charges, but spent about five of the next nine months in custody before going to rehab in late 2023. She’s been drug-free since then.

“She can serve as an example to others,” Perzia said.

His argument also included calls on the government to address overrepresentation of First Nations people in Canadian jails and that putting his client in prison would add to the intergenerational trauma her family has suffered as she has family members who went to Canadian residential schools.

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Federal prosecutor Brian Higgins said he was impressed with Joseph’s recovery and congratulated her, but added that doesn’t absolve her from what she was doing at the time by contributing to the opioid crisis in Sarnia-Lambton.

“Ms. Joseph played a role in that crisis both as a victim and as a perpetrator,” he said last month. “She put other’s lives at risk.”

He also said the amount of fentanyl and cash she had on her was particularly concerning as she wasn’t using every last dollar to buy drugs and support her own habit. Perzia, however, told the judge her addiction was so significant at the time she was smoking about $1,400 worth of fentanyl a day, making what she was caught with about a week’s worth for her.

Joseph wasn’t asked to speak Friday, but she told the court last month she realizes now that she’s sober how dangerous fentanyl is.

“I would like to take responsibility for my actions that have led me here,” she said.

After credit for pre-plea custody, Joseph has one year and seven months of house arrest left to serve. She can’t drink, take drugs, or associate with people in the Sarnia-Lambton drug subculture.

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