10 charged, $205K in illegal narcotics seized in joint police investigation

In a joint project, three local police services have charged 10 people with drug-related offences and seized $205,000 worth of illegal substances.

Brantford police, Haldimand Norfolk County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Sault Ste. Marie police began Project Carbon Copy in October 2021. The goal of the initiative was to dismantle an organized crime group distributing a large amount of fentanyl from southern to northern Ontario.

Just after midnight on April 14, Sault Ste. Marie police arrested four people during a traffic stop. Officers found 12 ounces of suspected fentanyl with a street value of $168,000 in the vehicle.

As a result, 26-year-old Skyler Beal of Brantford, 19-year-old Jamal Gomes of Brantford, 23-year-old Drew Pyne of Brantford and 21-year-old Alexis Rosebrugh of St. George were charged with possession of fentanyl for the purpose to traffic.

Shortly after the arrests, the three police services simultaneously executed five search warrants.

Haldimand Norfolk OPP charged 26-year-old Edison Beal with three drug-related offences after finding approximately $45,000 within a wall of a Caledonia residence.

Brantford police found equipment for cooking fentanyl in an apartment on Darling St. in their city. Officers also searched another residence on Pearl St.

Sault Ste. Marie police found suspected cocaine, fentanyl, crystal methamphetamine and two canisters of oleoresin capsicum (OC spray) in an apartment on Queen St. West in their city. This led to 43-year-old Shawn Saunders of Sault Ste. Marie being charged with four different offences.

Officers in Sault Ste. Marie also found suspected crack cocaine, fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine within a nearby residence. Shannon Morin of Sault Ste. Marie was then charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance.