Windsor judge delivers 16-year prison sentence to Toronto man in $13M drug operation
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A Toronto man was handed a 16-year prison sentence Tuesday in Windsor for his role in a multimillion-dollar plot to smuggle drugs into Canada for distribution.
Marvin Watson, 32, pleaded guilty to importing meth and cocaine, possessing meth for the purpose of trafficking, laundering proceeds of crime, and possessing property obtained by crime in September 2024.
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CBSA border officials and RCMP investigators seized 300 kilograms of meth from a truck inspected at the Ambassador Bridge after entering Canada on March 4, 2023.
In November, RCMP officers arrested Watson during a vehicle stop in Toronto, seizing another 120 kg of cocaine from his vehicle.
Using a court warrant to subsequently search the North York home he shared with common law spouse Maria Kiguru — also suspected of involvement — police said they seized more drugs in the garage, including 100 kg of meth and two kg of MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy).
The RCMP credited a broad joint policing effort on both sides of the border for the arrests and seizure of about 520 kg in illicit drugs with an estimated street value of $13 million.
Defence lawyer Frank Retar told the court Tuesday that his client “innocently enough” began selling marijuana during the COVID-19 pandemic, before becoming involved in more serious drug distribution.
“He was more than a courier, but he wasn’t the mastermind behind any operation of this kind,” Retar told Ontario Superior Court of Justice Paul Howard, adding his client had no prior criminal record.
“There’s no fentanyl. There’s no heroin. There’s no guns or weapons of any kind. This is in no way a sophisticated operation.”
Kiguru, who was also charged as part of the investigation, pleaded guilty on Sept. 6 to laundering proceeds of crime and was sentenced to a two-year conditional sentence that included eight months of house arrest.
Watson was scheduled to be sentenced in January, but the hearing was postponed until July as he prepared to become a first-time father.
“I would like to thank you, for granting me the time to be there with my family for when my baby was born,” Watson told Justice Howard. “That means a lot to me.”
In a joint submission, federal drug prosecutor Surinder Aujla and Retar, proposed a sentence of 16 years in prison.
Watson received credit for more than 200 days spent in pre-trial custody, much of which was served under lockdown conditions and in an overcrowded cell, reducing his sentence to 14 years and five months — or 5,269 days — left to be served.
Calling it a “significant” sentence, but not one at the “most upper level,” Justice Howard accepted the joint submission.
Before being sentenced, Watson told the court that he was trying to support his family and never intended to hurt anyone.
“I just wanted to make me and my family safe,” Watson said. “I made the decision to keep on going and here I am. I don’t want anybody to think I’m just some money hungry guy.
“I just got myself into a situation and I thought the best way to get out was just to get arrested.”
