A Niagara man, previously convicted of shooting a man during a 2021 botched drug deal, enlisted a 14-year-old for a robbery in Niagara Falls last year, court heard Monday.

And when he and the teen were arrested the next day, the man had a loaded handgun.

“There is no place in this community for people to be toting firearms, none whatsoever,” Judge Andrew Brown said in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines.

“There’s no place in this community where people (who) are under court orders decide to arm themselves and by this sentence you will pay a fairly high price for all of that.”

Kia Pagan Sandino, 24, was sentenced to 4.5 years in a penitentiary after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges including robbery and possession of a firearm while prohibited.

“This is a self-destructiv

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