Accused drug trafficker has history of legal battles

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/04/2021 (1601 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When police arrested reputed drug lord Sandra Guiboche, they seized drugs and property — including 10 homes in her name — worth more than $2.3 million. But the accused drug trafficker wasn’t always so flush, or at least so court was told at a 2014 sentencing for drug possession.

Guiboche, then 50, pleaded guilty to simple possession after a police search warrant yielded 10 rocks of cocaine in a safe next to her bed in her Talbot Avenue home.

Guiboche stood trial for possession for the purpose of trafficking, but after evasive testimony from the Crown’s main witness — Guiboche’s nephew — the Crown accepted a plea to simple possession, sparing her a likely prison term.

Mike Cook, Guiboche’s lawyer at the time, told court several other people with drug habits lived in the house and had the trial continued, one of them would have claimed ownership of the drugs.

Guiboche agreed to a $2,000 fine and to forfeit $2,200 in cash found at her home.

Cook described Guiboche as a struggling businesswoman who, with her partner and current co-accused Amanda Rouse, bought and renovated dilapidated homes under the name S and M Demo and Reno.

“It’s a legitimate business,” Cook said. “They don’t have a lot of money coming into the household, so a $2,000 fine is quite a fine.”

“It was never her intention, either herself or anybody else, to be selling drugs out of the house… but through her pleas acknowledges that she knew there were 10 rocks of cocaine in the safe,” Cook told Queen’s Bench Justice Colleen Suche.

Court records show Guiboche was charged with drug offences both before and after that 2014 conviction, but they were stayed.

Suche expressed skepticism at Guiboche’s version of events.

“If you have a legitimate business, it is shocking to me, absolutely shocking, that you would be so stupid as to let people have drugs in your home,” Suche said. “While I have a number of suspicions about you, I am accepting what I have been told is true.

“I expect the police will be keeping a close eye on you, given all these people that seem to be in your house and obviously, somebody had a fair amount of drugs,” Suche said. “You and your family, I suspect, will be very visible on the radar screens of the law enforcement community.”

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Head Start

Weekday Mornings

A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day.

Sign up for Head Start

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Winnipeg police announced Guiboche’s arrest, along with 25 co-accused, on Tuesday following a months-long investigation dubbed Project Matriarch.

Guiboche is accused of leading a crack cocaine ring that gripped the Point Douglas neighbourhood for 17 years.

Police allege the properties Guiboche owns or co-owns — which she maintains are rental units — are the crime ring’s drug production or distribution centres.

Provincial property forfeiture documents filed in court allege some tenants are street-level drug dealers and that Guiboche used her position as landlord to exercise control over her network.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.