KITCHENER -- A Waterloo man has been sentenced to five years in prison for dealing drugs while on probation.
Peter Whitby was arrested on November 1 during a drug bust involving two other men.
Police found two kilograms of crystal meth. In bulk it’s worth $40,000 but on the street the value jumps to $120,000 to $190,000.
His lawyer, Hal Mattson, says he was surprised by the arrest.
“He plead guilty days after his arrest because it’s obvious to me that he didn’t have a defence."
Whitby was on probation because two years ago he was arrested on separate drug charges.
During that trial he admitted to selling cocaine to his colleagues while working as a manager at Blackberry. Police also found half a pound of cocaine during a search of his home but Whitby claimed it wasn’t his.
He was later sentenced to 21 months in jail and was released in June 2018.
Whitby now admits that while he was out on probation for those charges he became a delivery man for drug dealers.
Mattson says he and a neighbour tried to help Whitby get back on his feet.
“Financially we tried to help him out so that the bank wouldn’t take his house. Unfortunately that’s how he got into this jam. He was unemployed and became depressed. [He then] became an addict himself.”
Justice John Lynch called the situation “disappointing” and “frustrating,” noting that he was the same judge who sent Whitby to jail two years ago.
In court he stated “we know that didn’t work.”
Whitby has been out on bail since November’s arrest and he will have to spend the full five years behind bars.
