Man sentenced to three years for running large-scale MDMA lab in Maple Ridge

A man involved in a large-scale MDMA production operation at a rural Maple Ridge property has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Christopher James Alves pleaded guilty to producing MDMA, possessing the drug for the purpose of trafficking and possessing substances for the purpose of producing a controlled substance. The offences occurred in 2022.

In a Sept. 18 decision, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Terence Schultes accepted a joint sentencing submission from Crown and defence calling for three years in prison on the first two charges and two years on the third, with all sentences to be served concurrently.

“The substantial amount of MDMA was involved here, produced in an organized, professional manner,” Schultes said. “Mr. Alves’s role in the production was not trivial.”

The charges stemmed from an MDMA lab operating on a rural property in Maple Ridge.

When police executed a search warrant, they found 49 kilograms of finished MDMA in a garage, valued at approximately $392,000, along with enough precursor chemicals and other substances to manufacture another 34 kilograms.

Photos included with an agreed statement of facts showed what Schultes described as an “extensive amount of equipment, supplies and refuse” connected with the operation.

Alves came out of the garage as police executed the warrant. Police had previously seen him at the property 18 times, including on days when significant pieces of equipment were delivered.

Investigators also found Alves’s DNA on a full-face respirator and his fingerprint on a glass flask inside the garage.

The judge said the drugs posed potential harm to the public, while clandestine drug labs themselves create safety risks for others.

According to the court decision, Alves, 42, had no previous criminal record. He told the author of a pre-sentence report that he became involved in the operation after meeting someone while working at a vape shop.

Alves said he agreed to participate because he wanted to pay off debts, believed he was becoming a financial burden on his wife and had a longstanding fascination with chemistry. He ultimately was not paid, which Schultes inferred was because police disrupted the operation before that happened.

The court heard Alves had initially rationalized his involvement because he viewed MDMA as a recreational drug, but had since come to recognize its harmful effects.

Schultes described Alves’s comments to the court as “articulate and apparently sincere,” saying they demonstrated that he recognized the harm caused by his actions and intended to continue the more positive life he had established since the offences.

The judge found Alves was genuinely remorseful and noted several mitigating factors, including his guilty pleas, lack of a criminal record, stable marriage and employment that will be available to him after his release.

Schultes concluded the proposed three-year sentence appropriately balanced rehabilitation with the need to denounce and deter large-scale drug production.

“The sentence proposed here gives sufficient weight to general deterrence and denunciation, which are important in offences of this kind, with their harmful societal impact,” he said, noting Alves had “very strong rehabilitative prospects.”

Alves was sentenced to three years on the MDMA production and trafficking charges and two years on the third charge, all to be served concurrently.

The judge also imposed a 10-year firearms prohibition for certain weapons after Alves is released, a lifetime prohibition for others, ordered him to provide DNA samples and imposed a $200 victim surcharge for each count.

Schultes recommended Alves be considered for work release at the earliest opportunity and, because of the support provided by his wife, that he serve his sentence at an institution in the Lower Mainland.