Crown counsel almost got its wish in relation to sentencing for a Vernon man in connection with a myriad of weapons- and drug-related charges.
Crown was seeking a seven-to-nine year sentence for Ronald Charles Learning, born in 1983. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Weatherill gave Learning a six-year jail sentence for 26 charges. The time is to be added to the nine years Learning is currently serving for being a courier in a drug operation out of Saskatchewan.
Learning’s lawyer had said prior to sentencing that another seven-to-nine years on top of the time Learning is already serving “is a harsh sentence for a 34-year-old with no criminal record in this province (B.C.).”
in 2015, a search warrant was executed at a Vernon home where four loaded handguns, more than $10,000 in cash and various types and amounts of prescription and non-prescription drugs were found and seized.
Weatherill also issued a mandatory lifetime firearms prohibition against Learning, and ordered him to provide a DNA sample.