Three men to be extradited to US in 15-year-old Okanagan marijuana smuggling case
Three men alleged to have been involved in smuggling marijuana in hollowed-out logs from the North Okanagan to California 15 years ago have failed to block their extradition to the United States.
Following a lengthy court battle, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper ordered Shane Donald Fraser, Todd Ian Ferguson and Daniel James Joinson to be taken into custody while awaiting extradition.
The trio now has 30 days to appeal the order before being handed over to U.S. authorities.
The case dates back to 2006 when Fraser, Ferguson, and Joinson were arrested along with several other men after police busted a smuggling operation in the North Okanagan.
The group had hollowed-out logs at a sawmill in Armstrong, before filling them with marijuana and driving them to California. However, what they didn't know was that police were tracking them and ultimately the operation was busted.
Four of the group were extradited to the U.S. and in 2017 Aaron Anderson, Ivan Djracic, Jamie Daniel Nenasheff, and Joseph Romano were sentenced to between 12 and 15 months jail time for conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
However, Fraser, Ferguson, and Joinson fought the extradition successfully and were granted a new hearing in 2017. The case was then sent back to the B.C. Supreme Court.
That came to an end on Oct. 8 when Justice Gropper ordered the extradition to continue. The decision was released earlier this week.
In the recently published court ruling, Justice Gropper states that even though Fraser, Ferguson, and Joinson did not physically deliver the marijuana to the U.S. they were still part of the operation.
"All three of them were directing minds over the individuals who transferred the marijuana. Each of them performed acts that assisted in the completion of the trafficking," the Justice states in the decision.
The Justice noted that it is not her job to convict the men, but to address the question of whether a jury could find Fraser, Ferguson, and Joinson guilty.
"Based on the evidence... I find that the record provides some evidence upon which a reasonable jury, properly instructed, could convict each of Fraser, Ferguson, and Joinson... of conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and trafficking in a controlled substance," she said.
The three were taken into custody and have 30 days to appeal the order and apply for bail.
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