Three months after his co-accused was sentenced to eight years in a federal prison for dealing drugs, Shane Whiteman received the same penalty.
A jury found the pair guilty of three drug-related offences in April of last year.
Whiteman, 45, and Mickey Buonomo, 44, were convicted of possession of 463 grams of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a prohibited conductive energy weapon.
On Thursday, Superior Court Justice Patrick Boucher, regional senior judge for the northeast region, who presided at the trial, imposed the same penitentiary term he gave Buonomo on Jan. 16.
Buonomo is appealing his conviction at the province's top court.
The Ontario Court of Appeal released him on bail on Jan. 24, pending his appeal.
The two men were busted during a city police "high-risk" traffic stop on Pine Street in November 2021.
In addition to the three offences stemming from that incident, Boucher subsequently found Whiteman guilty of breaching a prohibition order.
Both men were wanted on warrants at the time.
Whiteman was behind the wheel of the vehicle and Buonomo was in the passenger seat.
The fentanyl found under Buonomo's seat had an estimated value of $102,000.
Federal prosecutor Joe Chapman called for 12 years behind bars for Whiteman – four years longer than Buonomo's sentence – because of his lengthy criminal record dating back more than two decades.
Prior sentences have had no effect on Whiteman's behaviour, the Crown said, arguing a substantial sentence is needed.
Pointing to the "horrible impact fentanyl has had on the community," a message has to be sent that this amount of the deadly drug results in significant custodial time, he said.
The defence proposed a prison term of 7.5 years, less credit for the harsh conditions Whiteman faced during his pre-sentence custody, describing it as an appropriate sentence given the details outlined in a Gladue report prepared for the court.
Boucher said the lawyers' positions are in the appropriate range of eight to 15 years for high-level trafficking of fentanyl, a drug which has caused unspeakable harm.
Whiteman was involved, but "I can't find he was the mind behind this trafficking."
He noted the differences in the two men's criminal records.
Buonomo had a 20-year gap in his record, but was on a release order for a similar offence at the time on the traffic stop..
Whiteman has a lengthy two-decade rap sheet, and has been sentenced 30 times for a myriad of crimes, including numerous convictions for property offences, drug trafficking, and break and enters.
In 2003, he received a four-year prison term for an attempted robbery.
When Boucher imposed the sentence he cited the mitigating factors, including Whiteman's difficult upbringing.
He referred to an incident that occurred when then 11-year-old Whiteman was found in an alley and had to have his stomach pumped.
"Drugs and alcohol clearly took over his life," the judge said.
During his time in custody since his arrest, Whiteman has been held in four different custodial facilities, spent 463 days in segregation and experienced 122 days of lockdowns.
He also contacted COVID twice.
Boucher described his pre-trial custody as "hard time" and much more punitive than Buonomo's.
Whiteman was strip searched and another judge ruled this violated his Charter rights and excluded that evidence from the trial, he said.
With the enhanced credit of 1,881 days Boucher gave him for his time in pre-sentence custody, Whiteman must serve spend a further 33 months in a federal penitentiary.
The judge also imposed a life-time weapons prohibition and ordered him to provide a DNA sample for the national registry.