Head of crime syndicate has more time added to his prison sentence

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The head of The Family will be spending a lot more time behind bars.

Court of King’s Bench Associate Chief Justice Blair Nixon on Tuesday ordered Lawrence Orubor to serve a 6 1/2-year prison sentence on human trafficking-related charges.

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And Nixon said the Calgary man, who ran the crime syndicate The Family with an iron fist for five years, must serve that time consecutively to a 10-year penitentiary term he’s already serving for conspiracy to traffic a variety of narcotics.

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Orubor, 55, was convicted last July 23, of charges of human trafficking, receiving a material benefit from human trafficking and assault.

“A criminal organization known as The Family was comprised of vulnerable, addicted individuals who were primarily unhoused and resided in and around the Drop-In Centre in downtown Calgary,” Nixon said, reading in part of his written ruling.

“Operation Bloodline was commenced by the Calgary Police Service to investigate drug trafficking offences. Operation Bloodline uncovered drug trafficking and other offences that exploited and victimized two vulnerable individuals. This investigation led to other human trafficking and assault charges.”

Both defence counsel Tyson Dahlem and Crown prosecutors Vicki Faulkner and Fiorella Avolio suggested a 6 1/2- to 7 1/2-year prison term would be justified on the human trafficking charges relating to him forcing a woman to prostitute for him.

But Dahlem said the term should either be concurrent to the 10-year term his client was serving for conspiracy to traffic, or reduced to prevent too crushing a total sentence.

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‘Sufficient distinction’ between charges warranted consecutive terms: judge

Nixon agreed with the prosecutors that a consecutive term in the range presented was warranted.

Last November, Orubor was handed the 10-year term by Justice Keith Yamauchi after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic a variety of narcotics, including fentanyl, in the downtown area, particularly around the Drop-In Centre.

He also instructed others to use violence to protect their drug turf.

While The Family had been in existence for decades, court was told Orubor was only admitting to running the organization for a five-year period from June 6, 2015, to Nov. 4, 2020.

“While the offences before Justice Yamauchi and the offences before me arose from the same investigative Operation Bloodline and during the same and a similar time frame, I find that there is a sufficient distinction between the charges,” Nixon said, in explaining the need for consecutive sentences.

“Mr. Orubor was convicted and sentenced to drug trafficking. In contrast, the charges before me were quite distinct,” he said.

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“In the charges before me, Mr. Orubor trafficked (one woman), he assaulted (her) and received a material benefit from trafficking both (that woman and another victim).”

He said drug trafficking was “sufficiently distinct from human trafficking” to warrant consecutive terms, bringing Orubor’s total sentence to 16 1/2 years.

“To (make them concurrent) would effectively allow Mr. Orubor to escape a penalty for human trafficking and the associated assault and material benefit convictions.”

While Orubor’s subordinates were vulnerable and marginalized individuals, he lived a suburban lifestyle with a home in the Bonavista Downs neighbourhood with his wife and three children.

Orubor attended his sentencing hearing remotely via closed-circuit television from the Bowden Institution where he is currently housed.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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