January 29, 2010
CANADIAN TRUCK DRIVER ADMITS TO SMUGGLING $435,000 AND ECSTASY
CHP Stop Led to the Arrest
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Dan Lane announced today that ROBERT JAMES FOX, 38, of British Columbia, Canada, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possession with intent to distribute MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy) and bulk cash smuggling.
This case is the product of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation with the assistance of California Highway Patrol (CHP).
“Substances like Ecstasy not only pose a significant public safety risk, they also generate huge profits that are often funneled back into other types of illegal activity,” said Daniel Lane, assistant special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Sacramento. “That is why ICE is determined to attack and dismantle these kinds of criminal schemes.”
U.S. Attorney Wagner stated, “This guilty plea represents our commitment to use all resources available to remove those who traffic in dangerous drugs from our community.”
According to Assistant United States Attorney Jill Thomas, who is prosecuting the case, FOX was a tow truck driver for a Canadian truck company. On May 16, 2009, a CHP officer stopped FOX as he was traveling through the city of Woodland on Interstate 5 for a traffic violation. He observed several discrepancies under the bed of the truck that was indicative of a hidden compartment. The officer ran his police dog around the truck and the dog alerted to the presence of controlled substances. The officer then searched the truck and found a hidden compartment with drugs and cash in it. FOX admitted to carrying over 225 pounds of Ecstasy pills and $435,000 in U.S. currency.
ICE agents seized the Ecstasy pills and the cash, which are being forfeited by the United States. Another $2,670 was found in the cab of the truck and is also being forfeited as drug proceeds.
FOX is scheduled for sentencing before Senior United States District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton on March 23, 2010.
FOX faces a maximum prison term of 20 years, along with a maximum fine of $1 million for the drug charge and a maximum of five years and a fine of $250,000 for the bulk cash smuggling charge. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables and any applicable statutory sentencing factors.
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