Three people indicted in the largest-ever fentanyl bust in Sault Ste. Marie will stand trial in front of a jury late next year for a number of offences related to drug trafficking and the possession of property obtained by crime.
Richard Brewster, Leyla Ibrahim and Tequar Jones are scheduled to be tried in Ontario Superior Court over the course of a two-week period in mid-November 2025 — nearly three years after a joint police operation took more than $1 million in illicit drugs off of the streets in three Ontario cities, including the Sault.
Approximately $470,000 worth of narcotics were seized by Sault Ste. Marie Police Service in January 2023 while executing search warrants in the 600 block of MacDonald Avenue, including 700 grams of fentanyl — a record one-time seizure by police in the Sault. Stacks of cash totalling roughly $74,000 and a motor vehicle that was allegedly stolen were also seized in the bust. Five people in all were arrested.
Another $620,000 in drugs was seized following searches in Oshawa and Whitby as part of Project Otter, a joint operation between Sault Police, Durham Regional Police Service and Thunder Bay Police Service.
Brewster, Ibrahim and Jones were initially facing charges in the Ontario Court of Justice for their alleged roles in trafficking large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine in Sault Ste. Marie and possessing more than $5,000 in cash obtained by crime.
Those charges were then transferred to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice — reserved for the most serious criminal offences in Ontario — after the trio was indicted this past December.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and the accused in the case are considered innocent unless proven guilty.
The other two individuals charged in the Sault’s largest fentanyl bust have since had all charges against them dropped. Charges against O’Shane Davis Forbes were withdrawn in the Ontario Court of Justice in September 2023. The charges against Maurice Fidd, meanwhile, were stayed by the courts March 26.
As previously reported by SooToday, both Fidd and Davis-Forbes have been arrested and charged with similar drug offences in Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury within the past three years.
Brewster — an alleged member of the Toronto Driftwood Crips, also known in some circles as hip hop artist Richie Stacks — was originally arrested and charged by Sault Police in November 2022 for allegedly having a stolen car in his possession without a driver’s licence or car insurance. That charge has since been included as part of the indictment in Ontario Superior Court.
The 42-year-old is represented by Kim Schofield of Schofield Macchia LLP, a Toronto-based law firm that specializes in offences involving drugs, weapons and sexual assault.
Last month, Brewster’s legal counsel applied for a detention review that, if granted, would allow for his release from the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre until the trial begins next year. Recent court filings, however, suggest the Crown is adamantly pushing for Brewster’s continued detention.
Dates for pre-trial applications in the court case involving Brewster, Ibrahim and Jones are expected to be confirmed later this month.