Drug dealer who ‘terrorized’ money-owing customer sentenced to seven years

A Winnipeg drug dealer abducted a witness in an extortion case off the street, beat them, injected them with an unknown substance and threatened to kill them over being a “rat,” before making similar threats months later while armed with an imitation gun.

Provincial court Judge Denis Guénette, who sentenced the dealer to just under seven years in prison earlier this month, described the abduction as “a highly alarming event which can do nothing less than shock the collective consciousness of our community.”

Krista Roulette, 45, was found guilty after a trial on charges of provoking fear in a justice system participant, uttering threats, assault with an imitation gun and a common assault, as well as several court order breaches and possession of an imitation firearm.

She then pleaded guilty to an additional count of provoking fear in a justice system participant.

The victim, whose gender is not made clear in Guénette’s recent decision on the case, is a vulnerable drug user in their early 20s who bought substances from Roulette and owed money to her.

On Jan. 16, 2023, Roulette, along with two other assailants, threatened and beat the victim over a drug debt, and was arrested.

While on bail and with a court order barring contact with the witness, she spotted the victim walking on a street alone in the early morning of Jan. 5, 2024, said the judge.

Roulette came out of a house, grabbed the victim — referring to the person as a rat — then dragged them by the hair into the house and up to a second-floor room, Guénette said.

She began to kick the victim in the face and again called the victim a rat when another man in the house told her stop.

Two other people entered the room and bound the victim’s hands with zip ties as Roulette put on latex gloves, then punched the victim in the face several times.

Roulette showed the victim a silver handgun and pointed it at their face, saying, “I should have shot you last time,” the judge said.

The dealer then prepared a hypodermic needle with an unknown substance and told the other two assailants to give the victim an overdose.

Roulette put tape over the victim’s mouth as one of the others injected the substance into them. The victim eventually lost consciousness.

After waking up, the needle still in their arm, the victim ran from the then-empty house and called 911.

Police searched for Roulette, but could not find her, and on April 28, 2024, as the victim was walking to a convenience store, Roulette emerged from a nearby apartment building with her boyfriend.

The two approached the victim and directed them “to drop” the extortion charges against Roulette.

The victim said they would make the calls to do so, but Roulette and her boyfriend threatened to “blast” them — meaning to be shot and killed — and Roulette smacked the victim in the face.

The couple called the victim “a rat and a cop caller,” before telling them to keep walking. At one point during the interaction, Roulette produced a gun.

After Roulette’s arrest later in 2024, she pleaded guilty to the extortion charge.

“Overall, Ms. Roulette clearly was invested in a hostile campaign of significant abuse aimed at her victim, in attempting to get them to recant allegations pending against Ms. Roulette,” said Guénette.

“The victim, understandably, was terrorized.”

At sentencing, Roulette expressed remorse and apologized to her victim, and told court she wanted to change, the judge said.

Roulette will serve just over five years and five months going forward, after being credited with time spent behind bars prior to the sentencing.

She will also be barred from possessing weapons for 10 years and was ordered to provide her DNA to authorities.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca