Lambton Shores man gets 7 years in prison for trafficking $8,000 in fentanyl

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Before sentencing Randy Sherk to seven years in prison for dealing fentanyl, a Sarnia judge heard the Forest resident has struggled with serious drug addiction for at least a decade.

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“I reflect on the fact that as a user and addict himself, Mr. Sherk must have known the great misery that comes with dealing with this particular substance,” Judge Mark Poland said. “I have no doubt that Mr. Sherk has friends and acquaintances whose lives have been irreparably changed, damaged, destroyed and lost because of his association with and use of fentanyl.”

Sherk was recently convicted of charges stemming from a drug raid in Lambton Shores in which police found more than $8,000 worth of fentanyl and ammunition while searching a home on George Street in Forest on Nov. 25, 2022.

Sherk, 38, was charged with possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking and two counts of possession of ammunition against a warrant and was held for a bond hearing, police said at the time.

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At the start of a trial on July 26, 2023, Sherk, who spent nearly a year in pretrial custody, pleaded guilty to two weapons charges and one drug possession charge, but not guilty of having it for the purpose of trafficking. A reduced trial was held, with the trafficking element as the central issue.

Court heard two colors of fentanyl, purple and peach, were found in Sherk’s living room in a food container under a coffee table. It weighed over 42 grams and was worth anywhere from $8,000 to nearly $26,000, depending on how it was sold.

Defense barrister Nick Cake argued they did not know how much of the pile of drugs was intended for Sherk’s use.

“This is important, your honor,” he said.

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Poland came back in May with its ruling, where it found Sherk guilty of possessing it for the purpose of trafficking. The case was adjourned again for pre-sentence reports.

During the recent sentencing hearing, the court heard Sherk was prescribed painkillers after crashing a dirt bike in 2014.

“And after that, the rest is history,” Cake told the judge. “Unfortunately, your honor, it’s a tale as old as time as we see it in court.”

He noted that his client was taking 180 milligrams of methadone while battling his addiction.

“As I’m sure your honor is aware, that’s an incredibly high amount of methadone, which speaks to the strong hold that opioids, particularly fentanyl, had over Mr. Sherk during the time he was using,” he said.

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Cake, who also argued that the fentanyl was cut with other substances and that he did not actually have 42 grams of the drug, asked for five years in prison.

Federal prosecutor Brian Higgins countered with 7.5 years.

“A message must be sent to others who may follow in Mr. Sherk’s footsteps that this will not be tolerated,” he said.

Sherk also had four previous convictions as adults for possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking, the prosecutor noted. He previously spent two years in prison after he was caught with eight grams of fentanyl and half an ounce of crystal methamphetamine in 2019, he said.

He was also jailed twice in 2016, once for violating a court order and once after being caught with a sawed-off shotgun.

Poland called Sherk’s previous record highly aggravating and said what he did was at the average level of the drug world.

Sherk, a boilermaker, told the judge he has been able to stay clean while out on bail and is working on his sobriety. Poland, which told him to leave prison as soon as he finished speaking, gave him 21 months in pre-trial detention or house arrest, leaving five years and three months to serve.

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