Tim Hortons takedown: Cops with coffee bust armed drug dealer

It's an unusual story about a criminal, a coffee shop and a loaded, sawed-off shotgun.

A ruling from the B.C. Court of Appeal reveals new details about the arrest of an armed drug dealer outside a popular Prince George coffee shop in November, 2013.

The Tim Hortons was busy with customers, including numerous students from a nearby high school, Two RCMP officers sat drinking coffee and looking out the window.

According to court documents, they spotted Jamie Racette, 36, outside on a bike in the parking lot, and noticed a bulge on his back.

Loaded sawed-off shotgun in a backpack

When Racette started to tie a bandana around his face, the officers approached him.

Racette had 42 adult criminal convictions to his name that day, including armed robbery, so he was prohibited from wearing a mask or having a gun.

A drug addict, Racette had previously told officials he used to get drugs from gang members in exchange for keeping things "running smoothly at a drug house."

Dial-a-dope sting

The month before he was arrested in the Tim Hortons parking lot, Racette had sold an undercover RCMP officer half a gram of meth for $60 in a dial-a-dope sting. But he wasn't arrested at the time, because the undercover operation was ongoing.

Back at the Tim Hortons parking lot, the officers who interrupted their coffee break discovered Racette was wearing a backpack under his vest.

Inside the backpack, they found a small amount of methamphetamine, which they seized, a cell phone with text messages about drug sales and a loaded sawed-off shotgun.

Racette was arrested, and later pleaded guilty to the two dial-a-dope offences and gun possession.

He was sentenced to a two-year conditional sentence, but the Crown appealed, arguing the principles of denunciation and deterrence required prison time.

'Profoundly tragic' upbringing

The appeal court made note of Racette's "profoundly tragic" upbringing.

Racette likely suffered from fetal alcohol problems, the ruling stated.

It noted Racette was a foster child by age 4 and started using drugs and alcohol at age 6. By 13, he was in trouble with the law. As an adult, he sold drugs through "unsophisticated, low level dealing" to support his own drug habit.

Still, the ruling said the fact Racette brought a loaded, sawed-off shotgun into a public place was "profoundly dangerous misconduct with a tool of his criminal trade."

On appeal, Racette's original two-year conditional sentence was replaced with a six year prison term, four years with time served.