The man who accidentally set fire to a British Properties home when his clandestine drug lab exploded will not face any jail time.
Gerald Terrance Yaremchuk, 58, had been making MDMA, also known as ecstasy, at 1318 Crestwell Rd. when an early morning explosion awoke neighbours on March 7, 2022.
Inside the “filthy” house, crews found buckets of chemicals, propane burners, drying ovens, reaction vessels, mixing trays, air filters, modified wiring, a pill press and scales. They seized some ketamine and methamphetamine, almost 17 kilograms of raw MDMA, and 57,000 MDMA pills.
Initially, the Crown charged Yaremchuk with 11 counts under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. He later pleaded guilty to three – one charge of production of a controlled substance and two counts of unlawfully possessing precursor chemicals and equipment.
Yaremchuk’s cellphone contained texts between him and his bosses in the organized crime world. Many of the ones read out in court indicated Yaremchuk was still learning the trade.
Yaremchuk told investigators he had become burnt out working in the investment industry and turned to his cocaine dealer for contacts that would get him work producing drugs.
Yaremchuk received his sentence in Vancouver Provincial Court on Tuesday.
The Crown had sought a sentence of two years less a day in jail for Yaremchuk, to show the courts appropriately denounce and deter such behaviour. But, Judge Patrick Doherty agreed with Yaremchuk’s defence submissions that those same objectives could be achieved while serving house arrest.
In producing drugs for profit, Yaremchuk’s moral culpability was “relatively high,” Doherty acknowledged, but he said Yaremchuk was ultimately an inexperienced “cook” working for others.
“It is my view that Mr. Yaremchuk was a hapless producer of MDMA. He went into this endeavour with no advanced training. It is clear that he ruined at least one batch of product, and it is not clear if he had ever produced a batch successfully. He was so inept at producing the MDMA that he started a fire and nearly injured himself as a result,” he said. “I view this offence by him is a serious misjudgment on his part, but one that he is very unlikely to repeat.”
Doherty also took into account Yaremchuk’s otherwise clean criminal record and early guilty plea, which saved the courts from having to hold a lengthy trial involving 30 witnesses being called to testify.
For the first year of his sentence, Yaremchuk must stay on his sister’s Courtenay property 24 hours a day, unless he has prior approval from his court-ordered supervisor to leave for work, medical appointments or counselling. For the second year, he will be under a strict 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. That will be followed by another two years of probation. Yaremchuk must also complete counselling and 120 hours of community service.
The judge closed with a warning to Yaremchuk.
“This isn’t going to be easy. You’re under house arrest for close to two years. The alternative is jail, so if you don’t follow along, that’s where you’ll end up,” he said. “I wish you the best of luck with it all.”
B.C.’s Office of Civil Forfeiture, meanwhile, is seeking to seize the $4.3 million property as the proceeds or instruments of crime. The owner is fighting that in court, arguing he purchased the property with legal income and that he had no idea what the house was being used for. That matter has not yet been heard in court.
