Drug dealer who spent summer on the lam sentenced to 13.5 years in prison for trafficking, firearms, trying to bribe prison guard

William Michael Dow skipped out on June 25 sentencing only to be rearrested Sept. 17, imprisoned Sept. 25

There were a few tears and a little anger at the Chilliwack Law Courts Thursday morning (Sept. 25, 2025) as William Michael Dow was sentenced to a whopping 13-and-a-half years in prison for trafficking illegal drugs, firearms, and attempting to bribe a correctional officer.

Dow’s long sentence is due to the fact that while he was out on bail facing seven charges for drug trafficking and firearms connected to March 2020, he got greedy. In October 2020, he then continued the drug dealing, more firearms fun, but this time he tried to bribe a correctional officer.

Originally charged with seven offences connected to March 31, 2020, and seven more on Oct. 16, 2020, Dow pleaded guilty to two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and two firearms charges connected to March, and attempted bribery, one count of trafficking, and one firearms charge connected to October.

A sentencing hearing was held on April 17, 2025, in front of Judge Peter Whyte. Dow attended with a female, presumably his girlfriend. He thought he was going to jail at the end of that hearing, according to his lawyer Jayse Reveley. But Judge Whyte reserved his decision to a later date, a common practice when a judge has to consider wildly different submissions. 

Dow asked the court for a sentence in the upper single digits, seven or eight years, while Crown counsel Susan Gill was asking for consecutive sentences closer to 14 years.

Two months later on June 17, everyone was back in court but Mr. Dow decided he didn’t want to go to jail so he asked the judge if he could visit his sick mother in Prince George before being sentenced. Judge Whyte agreed and put the sentencing over a week. But on June 25, poof, no Dow. 

So began a fruitless effort by Reveley to track his client down, followed by a summer on the lam, almost to the day. It was June 25 when 10 warrants were issued for his arrest and it wasn’t until Sept. 17 when he was re-arrested, detained until the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Sept. 25.

This author was not in the courtrooms but I’m told there were tears from his supporters and some anger from Dow himself when Judge Whyte sentenced him to 13-and-a-half years in prison.

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Paul J. Henderson
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