Pubdate: Tue, 27 Mar 2001
Source: Ubyssey (Canada)
Contact:  http://www.ubyssey.bc.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/706
Author: Sarah Morrison

RICHARDSON COMES HOME

TRIUMFant Return For UBC Researcher Deported To US On Old Drug Charges

A senior researcher at UBC's TRIUMF laboratory returned home this weekend 
after serving a nine-month prison sentence for a crime he committed over 30 
years ago.

Allen Richardson, whose legal name is Christopher Peristein, was arrested 
in 1970 in New York for selling $20-worth of LSD to an undercover police 
officer. Nineteen at the time, Richardson  received a four-year sentence, 
and was sent to Attica State Prison.

Richardson escaped from prison and crossed into Canada, where he was 
sheltered by an  anti-war group. It is believed he obtained a false 
passport with the name 'Allen Richardson,' and lived in Canada until 1998, 
when an informant notified American authorities that  Richardson was living 
in Canada.

Richardson was arrested by the RCMP, and deported to the US, where he 
served a seven-month term in New York's medium-security Woodbourne 
Correctional Facility.

Back in Canada, Richardson is now preparing his request to stay in the 
country. In a hearing this Friday, Richardson will go before the 
Immigration and Refugee Board to appeal the  rejection of a sponsorship 
application filed by his wife a year and a half ago.

While Richardson's request would ordinarily be denied because of his 
criminal record, exceptions can be made, according to his lawyer.

"If the appeal decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board deems it a 
worthy enough case, they can allow them to become a permanent resident of 
Canada, notwithstanding the fact that he is criminally inadmissible," 
explained Richardson's immigration lawyer, Aleksandar Stojicevic.

Stojicevic expressed optimism about the hearing.

"The likelihood of success is probably better than 90 per cent. And as his 
lawyer, I don't say  that lightly," he said. "There's overwhelming 
humanitarian and compassion considerations  here...It's something he did 30 
years ago," he said.

Stojicevic criticised the events that led to Richardson's four-year 
sentence in 1970, and spoke  highly of the him.

"Here, he's really led pretty close to an exemplary life: director of the 
West Van SPCA, he's had a steady job at UBC for the past 20 years."

 From 1982 until his arrest, Richardson worked as a senior technical 
researcher at UBC's TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory of particle and 
nuclear physics.

"It was a surprise when he was taken out of here," said Jim Hanlon, 
TRIUMF's manager of human resources and administration. "And we didn't know 
he was working under an assumed  identity, that was a surprise."

Hanlon says that Richardson's job at TRIUMF is still waiting for him.

"We don't have an exact date when he's coming back, but we've got a 
position open for him  here."

Richardson was unavailable for comment at press time.
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