A Surrey provincial court judge has sentenced Stephanie Joan McMillan to four years in prison after she pleaded guilty to gun- and drug-related crimes out of Surrey and northern Vancouver Island.
McMillan, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking related to a traffic stop on May 2, 2020 when Delta Police found a bag containing 121.36 grams (roughly 4.5 ounces) of crystal meth at her feet, 60 tabs of LSD in her wallet and $4,600 Canadian in a Calvin Klein bag.
One month prior to that, McMillan had been busted on Highway 19, north of Port McNeill, also during a traffic stop. In that case police located multiple firearms, gun parts and ammo in the trunk. McMillan pleaded guilty to possessing four rifles and a prohibited weapon — a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun — with ammo. She had been released on a promise to appear in court and charges in the Vancouver Island case had not been approved by the time she was stopped in Surrey.
She was the driver in both cases.
The Crown sought a global sentence of 6.5 years’ prison while her defence lawyer argued for a conditional sentence order of two years less a day and three years’ probation.
Judge Mark Jetté noted in his May 29 reasons for sentence that McMillan in 2016 received a lifetime firearms prohibition. The court heard she lives on a half-acre hobby farm in Surrey and is expecting her first baby.
Jetté said it remains unclear where she was going with the guns “and what it was that she was going to do with them.”
“Ms. McMillan’s criminal record demonstrates a decade long pattern of serious criminal offending leading up to the commission of these offences in April and May of 2020 respectively,” the judge noted. “By her own admission, she had been entrenched in a criminal lifestyle over that time, and had been selling drugs to support that lifestyle and her drug addiction.”
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An appendix attached to Jetté’s reasons for sentencing lists what police found in McMillan’s vehicle during the Vancouver Island traffic stop “including, but not limited to,” a blue Rubber Maid Roughneck tote containing 460 rounds of 0.22 calibre ammunition; 73 rounds of 9mm calibre ammunition; 29 rounds of .410 gauge shotgun ammunition; one round of 20 gauge shotgun ammunition; 75 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun ammunition; one round of .270 calibre ammunition; 17 rounds of 30-06 calibre ammunition; nine rounds of .320 calibre ammunition; 11 rounds of .375 calibre ammunition; 90 rounds of .38 special calibre ammunition; 22 rounds of 308 calibre ammunition; 17 rounds of .40 calibre ammunition; one .50 calibre round of ammunition; 89 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition; 30 Boulder Buster Booster cartridges used for blasting rock; a JC Higgins, Model 60, 12 gauge, a prohibited sawed-off shotgun with a barrel length of 320mm, with the rear stock cut off; a rear wooden stock which fit the J.C. Higgin sawed off 12 gauge shotgun; a barrel and receiver assembly for a Russian made SKS semi automatic rifle with serial number EM3546; an SKS trigger assembly with serial number EM3546; a bolt carrier for an SKS with serial number EM3546; a Cooey Model 60 .22 calibre long gun, with no visible serial number. The receiver, bolt, trigger and barrel all present and appeared to be functioning; a wooden stock for the Cooey, Model 60, .22 calibre rifle; a Safari Land 6 round quick loader for a revolver; a black Keystone, Cricket .22 calibre, single shot, long gun; a wooden SKS stock with 11 X’s etched into the side, which fits with the SKS barrel and receiver assembly; another SKS barrel and receiver assembly with bayonet attached, serial number TA 7800; a wooden SKS stock with serial number TA 7800, which matches the serial number on SKS barrel and receiver assembly; a rusty revolver, unknown make or model, with serial number G13994; a R Knall, 9 mm revolver which appears to have been rendered inoperable as the barrel has been bored and an object appears securely placed in the barrel; a C11 air soft pistol, 4.6 mm, with serial number 411006608; a WASP brand knife which ejects CO2 from a small ejection port in the end of the blade; a black Kbar style knife with a 6 inch blade; a Glock magazine with 14 .40 calibre rounds of ammunition in the magazine; an Outers Gunslick Rifle Kit for a .30 calibre long gun; two 14 inch machetes; a metal collapsible/folding gun stock; a silver “FURY” brand throwing knife, with a possible serial number 66034; a bayonet with serial number 65221 on it; a wooden rear stock for a long gun; a black forward stock for a shotgun; a blue blanket with the name “Stephanie McMillan” and a poem embroidered and stitched onto it, which was originally wrapping the SKS rifle seized roadside but was later placed into the tote on scene.
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Police also found, according to the appendix, a green metal case with latches located in the back cargo area of the vehicle containing a browning .22 calibre magazine; another magazine of unknown make with .375 magnum rounds of ammunition in it; an SKS trigger assembly with serial number TA 7800 on it; a magazine for an SKS with serial number TA 7800 on it; two forward hand guard/gas tube assemblies, one of which had serial number EM3546 etched onto the gas tube; a cricket brand 4 X 80 scope; a magazine for a SKS with serial number EM 3546 on it; a rear housing for a SKS with serial number TA 7800 on it; a bolt carrier for a SKS with serial number TA 7800 on it; a bolt carrier/assembly for a Cricket .22 calibre rifle; a firing bolt assembly, with firing pin, for a SKS with serial number TA7800; a firing bolt assembly, with firing pin, for a SKS with serial number Em 3546; two recoil springs and guide rods for an SKS; a rear housing for a SKS with serial number EM 3546 on it; a bayonet; miscellaneous hardware for assembling firearms including brackets and stock pins; 323 .22 calibre rounds of ammunition; a magazine with four rounds of 9mm ammunition in it which were loaded backward; seven .410 gauge shotgun shells; one .375 round of ammunition; one round of 9mm Luger ammunition and one round of .270 ammunition.
