Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2008
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Mary Vallis, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

'YEAH, IT'S COCAINE,' PAGE TOLD POLICE

Court Documents; Tumultuous Night Detailed In Deposition

The trio look haggard and worn. Mascara stains one woman's cheeks; the
other stares into the camera with a half-smile. Steven Page, the
Barenaked Ladies frontman now charged with cocaine possession, is unshaven.

His trademark glasses are missing and he stares blankly into the
camera for his mug shot in New York state, after a long night of
allegedly fighting with his girlfriend and snorting cocaine.

According to documents filed with Fayetteville Village Court, Mr.
Page, 38, admitted to a police officer that a white powder he was
snorting at an apartment in a suburb of Syracuse, N. Y., late last
week was cocaine. "Yeah, it's cocaine," the court documents quote Mr.
Page as saying.

The Canadian singer and songwriter is charged with criminal possession
of a controlled substance, a felony. He has pleaded not guilty.

The band, which just released its first children's album, is standing
behind Mr. Page, saying the validity of the charges will be "strongly
contested."

The band's manager, Terry McBride, said today it will cancel its
appearances at a Disney-sponsored charity fund-raiser planned for late
August in Long Island. "Members of the band completely support Steven
Page," said Mr. McBride in a written statement, "but we don't want to
put Disney in an awkward position before issues involving Steven's
arrest are resolved."

A handwritten deposition signed by Stephanie Ford -- the roommate of
27-year-old Christine Benedicto, who was described as Mr. Page's
girlfriend in the documents -- outlines a tumultuous night leading up
to the trio's arrest, during which she and Mr. Page allegedly rolled
up a Canadian bill and used it to snort drugs.

Ms. Ford, 25, says she and Ms. Benedicto met Mr. Page at a bar late on
the night of July 10.

The couple "got into a huge fight because Christine was flirting with
another guy," Ms. Ford writes. The young woman says she followed Mr.
Page out of the bar and back to the apartment she shares with Ms. Benedicto.

"Steven kept saying he was going to drive back to Toronto," she writes
in the deposition. "He was laying on the grass so I sat on him so he
wouldn't leave. I was concerned because he had been drinking."

Then Ms. Benedicto appeared and started "yelling" at her roommate for
taking Mr. Page's side in the dispute. She eventually drove away in
Mr. Page's car, leaving her own car in the driveway, Ms. Ford writes.
Ms. Ford and Mr. Page then went back into the apartment. She found the
singer sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle that ostensibly
contained calcium capsules, and a pile of "a white powdery substance"
on the table.

"There was a Canadian bill on the table which Steven rolled up and we
used it to snort the white powder," Ms. Ford writes in the deposition.
"We never discussed what the white powder was, but I thought it was
cocaine.

"At that point a police officer knocked on the door and Steven and I
invited him in."

The officers had noticed Ms. Benedicto's car parked across the
sidewalk with the driver's side door open at about 2 a. m. As they
investigated, they noticed the pair seated inside the nearby apartment
with an "unknown white capsule" in front of them. A statement filed by
one of the officers alleges police found 10 capsules in Mr. Page's
"calcium" bottle, another capsule on the table and two more in his
right front pants pocket.

Powder in all of the capsules tested positive for cocaine, according
to the officer. Police say they found 0.314 ounces (8.9 grams) altogether.

Another officer "asked Steven if he was sure that the powder he was
snorting was calcium because it was testing positive for cocaine, at
which time Steven responded, 'Yeah, it's cocaine,'" the documents show.

Mr. Page, who lives in Toronto and is free on bail, recently separated
from his wife.

They have three children. He is charged with fourth-degree criminal
possession of a controlled substance, a felony that could carry a
prison sentence if Mr. Page is convicted. He faces up to 51/2 years in
state prison, according to his lawyer in Buffalo, N. Y.

The case is scheduled to be back in court on Aug. 26. Ms. Ford and Ms.
Benedicto are also facing drug possession charges.
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