Former oilfield ‘big shot’ gets 10 years in jail for drug trafficking

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Christopher Ray Briltz had a lot of things going for him at one time.

He had children, a partner, and a good oilfield job.

The Saskatchewan man, who grew up in Grenfell, made a lot of money on the oilpatch — he was a “big shot,” according to his lawyer, Jake Chadi.

“Slowly things started to fall apart,” Chadi told Regina provincial court Judge Noah Evanchuk on Friday.

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This happened when Briltz was introduced to a pipe, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine, the lawyer said.

But it wasn’t his drug use that brought him in front of the judge. It was his efforts to profit from the drug trade.

Briltz entered guilty pleas to three counts of possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. For that, he was given a 10-year prison sentence.

After credit for time served on remand, he has more than nine years left on his sentence.

Crown prosecutor Robin Neufeld outlined how police were surveilling Briltz in the days leading up to March 1, 2024, when they decided to take action and broke up a meeting between Briltz and Brent Douglas Orr.

The two men were sitting in a truck driven by Briltz near a restaurant on the north end of Regina’s Albert Street.

“Police appear to have interrupted a deal where Mr. Orr was about to purchase significant amounts of controlled substances from Mr. Briltz,” Neufeld said.

A Kentucky Fried Chicken bag at Orr’s feet in the truck contained 530 grams of methamphetamine and 270 grams of fentanyl, according to Neufeld, who also said Orr had $4,500 cash on him.

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But that wasn’t all the drugs police would seize. Not even close.

While Briltz had a small amount of crack cocaine on his person, a search of the truck netted police about 2.5 kilograms of mixed or cut fentanyl, around 1.7 kilograms of “apparently unmixed” fentanyl, approximately 850 grams of cocaine, and around 5.2 kilograms of methamphetamine, along with a little over $22,000 cash and about one litre of GHB, which Neufeld said is often referred to as a “date rape drug.”

Briltz was 38 years old when charges against him were announced in March 2024.

“The new devil in town is fentanyl,” Chadi proclaimed, hearing no disagreement.

The defence lawyer told the judge Briltz understood that his punishment needed to be commensurate with the crime. The 10-year overall sentence was a joint submission put forward by lawyers on both sides of the case.

When offered a chance to speak, Briltz simply told the judge he wanted to apologize to the court, the province, “and mostly to my children.”

Evanchuk admonished the man for his commercial involvement in the trade of dangerous drugs, calling him a “merchant of death and misery.”

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The judge also commented on the man’s limited criminal record and strong previous history of employment, saying it was a “tragedy” he wound up before the court for such offences.

Evanchuk said the 10-year sentence is a harsh lesson, pointing out that it’s the same length given to some offenders in homicide cases. But, he also suggested to Briltz that the sentence could’ve been longer had he not pleaded guilty.

The judge said a message must be sent “as a clarion call, that this type of behaviour must be denounced, and we must put a stop to it.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Evanchuk ordered Briltz to provide DNA for forensic purposes. The judge also imposed a weapons prohibition.

Briltz sustained additional charges after being released on bail following his arrest on March 1, 2024. Those and any other outstanding charges relating to the incident were stayed by the Crown.

Orr was previously sentenced to five years in prison for twice possessing fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking and breaching a bail condition.

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