Winnipegger found guilty of drug charges in Montana

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A map shown to jurors outlining the route Timothy Morneau, Alan Mulder and Christian Laurin took between Feb. 4 and Feb. 9, before they were stopped by police near Glendive, Montana. (UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE)

BILLINGS, Montana -- A Winnipeg man was found guilty this morning on two charges of smuggling ecstasy into the United States.

Timothy Morneau, 32, was found guilty of conspiracy with intent to distribute ecstasy, and possession of ecstasy with intent to distribute, by a jury of seven men and five women. 

He will be sentenced on April 16.

 While it has been reported in the past that the convictions carry a mandatory sentence, this is incorrect, U.S. Attorney William Mercer said.

Mercer said the government will be asking the courts to impose a 35-40 year sentence for Morneau, which fits within federal sentencing guidelines.

The guilty verdicts come one day after federal court in Billings heard testimony about an alleged confession made to a jailhouse snitch and also the testimony of two Winnipeg men who say they were hired as drug "mules" by Morneau.

On Tuesday, prosecutors called three controversial witnesses to bolster their theory that Morneau was the lead player in a cross-border ecstasy-smuggling ring.

Two young Winnipeg men, Alan Mulder, 20 and Christian Laurin, 20, each told their version of events leading up to their being stopped by a Montana state trooper. Court has heard the three men were found in Mulder's car with a massive amount of ecstasy in the trunk last February.

Mulder and Laurin signed a controversial plea deal that dropped their possession charges in exchange for a guilty plea on a conspiracy charge and an agreement to testify against Morneau.

The two men said one of their roommates came to them Feb. 4 with a plot to make "quick money" by helping "give a guy a ride."

By 4:30 p.m. that day, the pair had been introduced to a man they claim they initially only knew as "Tim" at a house in the North End of Winnipeg, had loaded three duffle bags into the trunk of Mulder's car and set out on a five-day trip.

The judge heard that their actions were part of a hastily-planned scheme to get nearly 224,000 tablets of the dangerous drug across the Canada-U.S. border using a rickety snowmobile stolen from a repair shop in Souris.

The trio later met up at a North Dakota hotel, loaded the drugs into the car in the dark of night and made their way toward Glendive in Montana, where they were nabbed after being pulled over for having a headlight out.

Mulder and Laurin told the five-woman, seven-man jury that they only learned they were transporting ecstasy well after the trip began. Laurin, however, said he had suspicions about what they were transporting after lifting one of the bags.

"I knew it wasn't weed... It was too much, too much weight," he testified.

After being caught on the side of the I-94 highway, the trio had a brief conversation about what to tell the state trooper quickly approaching their vehicle.

Laurin, who was driving, said Morneau told him to tell trooper Glenn Quinnell that Morneau's "name was Cliff, we did not know him and that he was a hitchhiker."

Asked what Morneau said in the car as they drove to a police station to have it searched, Laurin told jurors: "It was more shock and confusion, I guess, getting our story straight."

Assistant district attorney Jim Seykora also called a 34-year-old convicted felon to the stand to testify about a jailhouse confession Morneau allegedly made while in custody in Glendive.

Jason Lorenz said Morneau told him the drugs had been paid for with $2 million and that Morneau thought they'd be worth more than double that on the street.

Morneau referred to himself as "a runner," Lorenz said. Morneau also made reference to a person he called the "big man" who would ultimately "take care of everything."

Defence lawyer David Duke attacked the credibility of Mulder and Laurin in light of their deals with the government that "minimized" their involvement, and the fact that some of their testimony didn't match.

Morneau did not testify on his own behalf.

james.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 14, 2009 A3