A 57-year-old Penticton man who is a prolific offender with 20 prior convictions is being sent back to jail for 15 months.
Crown counsel Nick Lerfold told Penticton provincial court on Monday that John Mason was found in a vehicle with 59 grams of marijuana by police on Dec. 15. He said police noticed an “unnatural bulge” in Mason’s pants, and a further search revealed 36 grams of cocaine wrapped in plastic and another 0.8 grams of cocaine in the brim of his ballcap. RCMP also discovered two cell phones that had texts relating to drug trafficking.
While he was out on bail, RCMP received a confidential tip that Mason had been selling drugs. Following up on that tip on Jan. 20 they found Mason in possession of a paper flap with 0.2 grams of heroin and seven demerol pills. This incident resulted in a breach of condition charge from his previous arrest on Dec. 15.
Mason told Judge Gale Sinclair that his teeth had been pulled and the drugs were used to help him deal with the pain.
Sinclair sentenced Mason to 12 months in jail for the possession for the purpose of trafficking charge and an additional three months on the breach of probation for possessing a controlled substance.