A local drug dealer has received a seven year prison sentence after pleading guilty to five of his charges. Mark Richard Phillips was originally arrested in October 2014 when 1.8 kilograms of coke and almost 2,000 fentanyl pills were seized from his home, the largest ever fentanyl seizure in Grande Prairie.
The fraud charges were added in August 2015 as the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team alleged he laundered the proceeds of drugs sales into bank accounts and other assets.
Phillips will be back in court in April on two charges of second degree murder in connection with the deaths of Amber Dawn Diebert and Jody Michelle Topilko. He was out on a $50,000 surety at the time of the murders.