Manitoba·NewA man sentenced to eight years in prison for trafficking cocaine has lost an appeal to get his term reduced.William Gooding’s sentence for role in drug-smuggling operation will stand: judgeDave Baxter · CBC News · Posted: Nov 17, 2025 9:10 AM EST | Last Updated: 19 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Officers from multiple police agencies seized more than $70 million in illicit drugs as part of the Project Divergent investigation. In a written decision released Oct. 20 by the Manitoba Court of Appeal, Judge Anne Turner said the eight-year sentence handed to William Gooding will stand. (Ron Boileau/CBC)A man sentenced to eight years in prison for trafficking cocaine has lost an appeal to get his term reduced.In an Oct. 20 written decision, Manitoba Court of Appeal Judge Anne Turner said the sentence handed to William Gooding for his part in a complex drug smuggling operation will stand.Gooding was arrested on March 1, 2022, as part of an RCMP investigation called Project Divergent.At the time, he was already incarcerated at Stony Mountain Institution on an unrelated conviction.He pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking cocaine and received the eight-year sentence. He was also banned from owning any weapons for 10 years. Gooding asserted in his appeal that the sentencing judge made an error in determining that he was a high-level drug dealer. Turner did not agree. “We are not persuaded that the sentencing judge made palpable and overriding errors in her findings of fact,” Turner said in her decision. “There was ample evidence to support the conclusion that the accused was a high-level drug dealer.”Turner said Gooding was implicated in two illegal transactions involving cocaine.He was one of 20 people arrested as part of Project Divergent, a combined RCMP and Winkler Police Service investigation that led to the largest drug seizure in Manitoba RCMP history.The investigation was launched in 2018 after a Manitoba RCMP criminal analyst flagged trends regarding the importation of drugs into Canada.That led the RCMP to identify a complex operation involving large volumes of drugs from Mexico or Colombia being smuggled into Manitoba then distributed across the country. Several police agencies from across Canada and around the world became involved in the investigation, including the Colombian national police, Hellenic Police in Greece and the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations out of Grand Forks, North Dakota.Along with the 20 arrests, police seized more than $70 million worth of illicit drugs, including 110 kilograms of cocaine, 41.4 kilograms of methamphetamine and three kilograms of fentanyl. In his appeal, Gooding argued the eight-year sentence was not on par with the sentences give to other individuals charged in connection with the project, and that his was too high. “Ultimately, we do not find that the sentence imposed was demonstrably unfit as it does not unreasonably depart from the principle of proportionality, taking into account the individual circumstances of the offence and the offender, and the acceptable range of sentence for similar offences committed in similar circumstances,” Turner’s decision reads.Gooding also accused the sentencing judge of not taking Gladue factors into proper account. Gladue considers systemic and background factors that may have contributed to an Indigenous person’s contact with the criminal justice system.The appeals court said those factors were not reason enough to lower the sentence. “While the accused’s Gladue factors were significant, they did not reduce his overall high moral culpability,” Turner’s decision reads.ABOUT THE AUTHORDave Baxter is an award-winning reporter and editor currently working for CBC Manitoba. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he has also previously reported for the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press, as well as several rural Manitoba publications.
Appeals court upholds 8-year prison sentence for man charged in Project Divergent
