August 24, 2016 - 8:54 AM
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A Quebec man arrested while dragging a sled loaded with more than 82 kilograms of prescription pills into the United States has been sentenced to a year in prison.
Cedrik Bourgault-Morin was sentenced by a Vermont court on Monday.
The 21-year-old had pleaded guilty earlier this year to a single charge of possession with intent to distribute.
Bourgault-Morin was arrested by border patrol agents in Vermont on Jan. 13 after he tripped a sensor while crossing the border from Quebec.
Court documents have said he was wearing white camouflage and pulling a sled that held a large duffel bag, which was also wrapped in white camouflage.
Prosecutors say agents found 300 vacuum-sealed bags of Xanax pills in the duffel bag. Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication. They say the pills had a street value of US$1.6 million.
Court documents have offered no details regarding where the drugs might have been headed.
A provision of Bourgault-Morin's plea deal stipulated that he could potentially be prosecuted for his involvement in a wider alleged distribution conspiracy.
"The circumstances of his offence indicate he had the assistance of co-conspirators on the Canadian side of the border, and he was anticipating assistance of co-conspirators on the American side of the border," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt wrote in court papers filed after Bourgault-Morin's arrest.
In sentencing Bourgault-Morin, the court recommended he be incarcerated close to Montreal, in the lowest security setting available.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016