International law could soften the penalties for two Canadian men who have admitted to trying to smuggle 578 pounds of high-grade “B.C. bud” marijuana.
The two men were arrested last May 31 by federal agents after they came ashore in a small boat near Clallam Bay and were spotted offloading the pot.
The sentencing Monday of one of the Canadians was delayed to March 21, when his partner also will be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
But while they each could receive up to 40 years in prison, they could end up serving just one-third of their sentences if they spend it in Canada under a “treaty transfer” program between the United States and Canada, Doug Whalley, assistant U.S. attorney, said Tuesday.
Kyle Grayson Gadsby’s court hearing was rescheduled from Monday so that probation officers could have more time to complete a pre-sentence report, Emily Langlie, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Tuesday.
Gadsby will be sentenced at 11 a.m. March 21, while Colin Charles Crowe will be sentenced at 3:30 p.m.
Gadsby and Crowe, both in their mid-20s, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to import a controlled substance, which authorities determined was valued at $1 million to $2 million.
The Maple Ridge, B.C., men face five to 40 years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $2 million each.
They posted property bonds and remain free on their own recognizance, Langlie said.
In pleading guilty, both reached plea agreements, but Gadsby’s is sealed.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Canadian government must agree to transfer Gadsby and Crowe, said Whalley, supervisor of the U.S. Attorney’s Office criminal enterprises unit.
“They could serve a third of what they would serve here with good time,” Whalley said.
In addition, any prior Canadian convictions cannot be factored into their prison sentence on the drug-smuggling charges, Whalley said.
Finally, if they fail to appear for a court hearing, “we can’t just issue a warrant,” Whalley said.
“It’s a long, two- to three-year process to extradite them,” he said.
“If a person is hard to find, the case can languish for many, many years. Over time, our case disappears. So that’s a problem.”
Whalley added that, lately, Canadian government has been less inclined to employ the program because of heightened drug-gang activity in the Vancouver, B.C., area.
Crowe, then 26, and Gadsby, then 25, were caught by U.S. Border Patrol agents while unloading large plastic garbage bags of marijuana from a camouflaged inflatable boat on a beach next to state Highway 112 near Clallam Bay, according to the federal complaint.
They fled and were caught 2½ miles away by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement vessel.
Crowe and Gadsby told authorities they were each paid $5,000 to transport the marijuana across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the beach, where the haul was to be picked up by another person.
“It’s a routine, cross-border smuggling case,” Whalley said.
“They are not the leaders of the organization. It’s recruits who are down on their luck who are smuggling in marijuana.”
Authorities have seen fewer large marijuana-smuggling operations along Washington state’s coast “in the last couple of years,” Whalley said.
“Everyone agrees the amount of marijuana smuggling has diminished, partly because people are growing more here, but also because of increased border protection,” he said.
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Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
