Quebec man caught crossing border with sled full of drugs sentenced in Vermont

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.

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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.

The Canadian Press