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Woman pleads guilty to conspiring to sell cocaine in Yellowknife, Fort Resolution

A Fort Resolution woman who pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic cocaine with former drug kingpin Norman Hache will learn her fate on Aug. 28.

Thirty-four-year old Lacey Dawn Forrest appeared before Justice Karan Shaner in NWT Supreme Court Wednesday to answer to three drug-related charges brought against her by the Crown.

Forrest was one of several people who were arrested and charged April of 2016 after a far-reaching RCMP-led probe into high level drug trafficking in the city of Yellowknife and throughout the territory resulted in two rival drug networks being dismantled.

In court on Wednesday, Forrest stood beside her lawyer Steven Fix as she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to traffic cocaine.

The charge alleged that between Feb. 29, 2016 and March 17, 2016, Forrest conspired with Norman Hache, and three others to possess for the purpose of trafficking cocaine.

Forrest pleaded not guilty to two additional charges – one count of possessing property obtained by crime exceeding $5,000 and one count of trafficking cocaine.

Crown prosecutor Maren Zimmer indicated the remaining charges would be withdrawn following the conviction on count one.

Forrest will be sentenced for the conspiracy conviction when Shaner makes her decision on Aug. 28.

Zimmer said the sentencing hearing will feature half an hour of audio recordings played to the court – presumably that of phone calls intercepted during the RCMP investigation.

Crown lawyers tasked with prosecuting offenders  tied to Project Green Manalishi since the 2016 take down have often presented incriminating text message transcripts and intercepted phone calls as evidence.

Of the four individuals also charged with conspiring to sell cocaine, Forrest is the last to be sentenced for her involvement in the Hache-headed drug network.

Mike Dunn, a co-conspirator, was sentenced to three years last month, while Hache was handed a five-year prison sentence in August.

Forrest, who now resides in Alberta, is not being held in custody until she's sentenced.