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City drug smuggler jailed 20 years

Hells associate nabbed in Montana

By: Gabrielle Giroday

17/04/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 23

Morneau

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Morneau (HANDOUT)

A United States judge sentenced a Winnipeg man to 20 years in jail Thursday for his role in a cross-border smuggling trip.

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull sentenced Timothy Morneau, a Manitoba Hells Angel associate, for his role in what Montana police said was one of the biggest ecstasy drug busts in the history of the state.

In February 2008, state troopers pulled over Morneau and two then-19-year-old Winnipeggers, Christian Laurin and Alan Mulder, on an Interstate highway near Glendive, Montana.

Officers said they made the stop due to a burned-out headlight.

Police said inconsistent statements by the three men lead officers to search the car, where they found three duffel bags containing nearly 224,000 ecstasy pills. Laurin and Mulder testified against Morneau in January.

Both told court that Morneau, who is in his early 30s, was the lead player in the drug-smuggling trip. They also said they had quick money in mind when they agreed to give a ride to Morneau, only hours after they met him.

Within days, a Montana jury found Morneau guilty on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute ecstasy and possession with the intent to distribute ecstasy. Morneau received a 20-year sentence Thursday.

"Twenty years is a long time," said David Duke, a Billings, Montana defence attorney who represents Morneau. "It's a solemn day."

Duke said they'll appeal the ruling, a 10- to 12-month process.

Morneau did not testify during his trial. However, he told police after his arrest he smuggled the drugs for a $5,000 fee and paid Mulder and Laurin to drive him.

Police testified Morneau said he drove a snowmobile across the border with the drugs before Laurin and Mulder picked him up in North Dakota. Duke said the 20-year sentence is extremely serious because under U.S. federal law there is no parole.

Morneau would be eligible to get his time reduced based on good behaviour. But Duke said that cannot be more than 15 per cent of the 20 year sentence, or a total of three years.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

 

 

What led to 20 years of hard time?

FEB. 9, 2008: Montana state troop­ers pull over a car and find three duffel bags containing 68 kilograms of ecstasy.

Three Winnipeg men including Tim­othy Morneau, then 32, are arrested and face charges.

JULY 2008: Lawyers for all three men say the search of Alan Mulder's Volkswagen Golf was illegal and move to get evidence thrown out.

JAN. 2, 2009: A judge rules the evidence seized at the traffic stop can be used at trial.

LATER JANUARY 2009: Mulder and Christian Laurin, agree to testify against Morneau. Both plead guilty to a conspiracy charge. A former Montana jailhouse cellmate of Morneau's also testifies against him. A jury finds Morneau guilty.

MARCH 2009: Mulder and Laurin are sentenced to spend four years in federal prison for their role.

APRIL 2009: Morneau is sentenced to spend 20 years in federal prison.

-- Free Press archives

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 17, 2009 B3

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23 Commentscomment icon

CS, I refute your notion that legalization of drugs would create an epidemic of addiction. As with alcohol abuse the majority of abusers will be in the minority and the percentage of the population who would choose this life would remain low. Most of us would not consider a life of smoking meth or main-lining heroin to be a very good one, and would not take it up just because it's legal (or if we did would fight like hell to get free of the addiction). One would hope that legalization might serve to encourage the development of high-producing drugs that aren't as devastating as meth, heroin, etc. Furthermore, it would permit the introduction of more safe injection sites where chronic users could be monitored and offered social services (addictions counicilling, health care, housing, etc.) along with their daily fix.



Still, the main point: PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS DO DRUGS. The way to make the best of this situation is collect tax on it and create a mental health program that attempts to address the root cause of their substance abuse. The worst thing to do is let gangsters keep all that money while not having enough in the budget to look after the lives that are ruined by the fact that no one is capable of making these drugs (or more to the point, the desire for them) go away.


It's awful that people cause so much damage to themselves and others by smoking, drinking, doing drugs, whatever, but they do. There's no point in trying to change human nature at gunpoint, because it won't happen that way. The thing to do not to hurl resources at the supply side of the problem, but find ways to address the demand. The demand for smoking has gone down considerably since the government and other NGO's started campaigning against it, likewise the demand for drugs can be lessened by increased education much more effectively than through prosecution.

Just look at the problems society is faced with the legalized drugs of alcohol and tobacco: The social problems of alcoholism and the deaths related to drinking and driving, and the health problems of both drugs resulting in billions of dollars being spent by the government to care and treat these people from psychological problems to cancer. So now let’s add cocaine, meth, and heroine to the legal side and let’s make it readily available at any quantity for a moderately inexpensive price and see what happens. The amount of people that would become dependent on these powerful drugs would burden our society beyond belief.

The chemical makeup of certain drugs (hard) causes them to be highly addictive due to how they create the “high” experienced by the user (neurotransmitters and dopamine) as compared to other “softer” drugs like marihuana and alcohol. Be careful what you wish for if it is your wish to legalize drugs.

Common Sense you are right that many violent street level crimes and B & E's are related to the drug trade, but unfortunately your equation is still wrong, because drug enforcement creates more problems than it solves. Consider that if drugs were legalized tomorrow the price for them would tumble considerably, most of what someone pays for a rock of crack or whatever is the price of risk. That's not to say people who are hopped up on this insidious substance won't go and do stupid things, but there would be less pressure to rob people at axe point, a situation that only the most desperate person finds them self in.


Now consider what a taxed, monitored supply of drugs could provide for society:
-Taxation that could be used directly to rehabilitate people whose lives are ruined by these substances (face it people will ALWAYS use and abuse them legal or not)
-Millions returned to the budget of law enforcement because they won't be spending so much money to stem the tide of illicit substances that somehow still manage to make it onto our streets.
-The cash starvation and subsequent death of most of the country's most powerful street gangs, and a serious blow to the organized criminals above them.

Now let's reconsider your equation:
Taxation on drugs directed to rehabilitation + increased budgets for law enforcement - violent gun toting street gangs who live and breathe the drug trade= a safer, saner Winnipeg.

As to the sentence of 20 years, I think the deterrence factor is what the judge is after here. I'm sure the Judge is sending a message to their 'Amsterdam of the North' (Cananda), saying “go ahead and try bring drugs into my state, you'll see what happens if we catch you. I'm sure it will make anyone thinking of bringing drugs into the states think twice after seeing someone get 20 years for their first offence - I think it's awsome. I wish our judges could give those kinds of sentences.

Common Sense? Prohibition of those drugs is what causes them to be so expensive that some people resort to crime in order to afford them. Alcohol is so cheap drunks can bum the money to pay. Coffee is a drug and no one loots, pillages and kills for their fix. There is no such a thing as "hard" drugs or "soft" drugs. Hard and soft are moral judgments, not periodic table reality. Graphite is soft and diamond is hard in science. So why don't we learn a lesson from the Parable of the Fall and quit making certain drugs the forbidden fruit? Then no one would even go out of their way to try them. It is after all in the forbidding of the fruit that gives them their allure.

what i am reading you think this is harsh,,he's a big time player ,paying big time .he knew what he was doing an if caught would pay,,oh he just saw profits an now we should feel sorry ,not,,you are what the rest of us honest people want to see you do,,TIME ..we are tired of you an your fellow friends getting off with easy time,,byeeeeeeeeeee enjoy ur time..oh at getting out at 50 good luck at finding connecting in your world,,lol

Common Sense and Reality,
Where the heck did you get the statistics for your allegation that increased levels of drugs within the borders of Winnipeg has a direct correlation to crime? That's completely false and clearly used to push a flawed moral position.

There is even a Victoria police officer calling for an end to the war on drugs along with countless reports of support for legalization in the USA. Furthermore the incalculable effects it will have on "black market" and could actually lead to a reduction in crime.

Buors, why don't you move your socialist self to another country where you can smoke as much grass as you want

Chris Buors - What an odd way to try to get your 15 minutes of fame. The Free Press comments sections?? Nice. Shouldn't you be picketing something or blocking a road somewhere? Oh well, thanks for always providing the good laughs. Keep up the over-the-top melodrama.

Common Sense & Reality, Norm, Joe, 1985; Well-Said! I wholeheartedly agree!

Keep up the great work Chris.B! Your comments continue to amaze, astound & entertain us! LOL!

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