Two brothers from Chatham-Kent will be spending the next several years in a penitentiary for masterminding a "high-level" drug operation in Chatham-Kent.
Kyle Toornstra was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday in Chatham Superior Court.
His brother, Jonathan Toornstra, was previously sentenced to eight years in the penitentiary.
Both men are under a 10-year weapons ban and were ordered to provide a DNA sample as part of their sentencing.
Jonathan Toornstra's eight-year sentence will begin in less than a year after he completes his current 10-year penitentiary sentence on another conviction.
Guilty pleas were entered in Chatham Superior Court on September 5, 2025, following a $500,000 drug bust in Chatham in 2023.
The Toornstras were to have a five-day trial in September, but the trial didn't proceed due to the guilty pleas.
Chatham-Kent police searched a home on McFadden Avenue in 2023, as well as the homeowner’s vehicle and a storage unit on Queens Line, and discovered nearly $500,000 in cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and other controlled substances.
A total of 17 drug and weapons-related charges were laid in this case.
Kyle Toornstra was originally charged with six counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, five counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, and careless storage of a firearm.
Jonathan Toornstra was initially charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
The 2023 drug seizure led to an additional search warrant for the Collins Bay Correctional Facility in Kingston, where Jonathan Toornstra was already serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted in connection with a $2.6 million drug bust in 2019. It was Chatham-Kent's largest ever drug seizure.
Justice Brian Dube previously told the Toornstra brothers that they are getting the benefit of a "very lenient sentence", partly because they pleaded guilty and saved the court time and money on a trial.
Justice Dube also noted the brothers were motivated by "greed and oversized egos."
