Pubdate: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Damian Inwood POT SMUGGLER CLAIMED HE WAS MAKING UP FOR EARLIER FAILED RUN Alleged ringleader awaits sentencing, former Telus adman gets eight months in prison A Vancouver businessman who U.S. agents say was the ringleader of a botched marijuana-smuggling operation claimed he was a "monkey," working off a debt for another load of pot he'd lost in a snowstorm two months earlier. According to court documents filed in Seattle last week, Richard Bafaro, 45, told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that, in February, he and a friend, Jason Metcalf, were using a snowmobile to search for the lost pot when Metcalf fell and broke his leg. On Feb. 18, RCMP sent a rescue helicopter to airlift Metcalf out of the wilderness, said the documents. "At the time Metcalf was rescued, he'd already spent several days in the woods, was experiencing kidney failure and almost died," says a U.S. District Court sentencing report. Bafaro and four other men were arrested April 26 after agents found three of them hiding in the snow, along with four backpacks containing 50 kilos of marijuana worth more than $300,000. Bafaro had rented a storage unit in Bellingham and records showed he accessed it 28 times between Feb. 23 and March 14. According to a sentencing memorandum filed Sept. 20, agents searched the storage locker and seized a snowmobile and "numerous" plastic bags. "Bafaro said that he heard of individuals using snowmobiles to smuggle cocaine northbound into Canada," said the court document. "A nylon bag recovered produced a positive reading for cocaine, a bowl and a scale produced a positive reading for marijuana and the storage-unit walls produced a positive reading for methamphetamine." Former Telus marketing director Christopher Neary, 34, was sentenced in Seattle Friday to eight months in prison for his part in the cross-border smuggling attempt. Neary had been caught hiding in the snowy forest with two other men on the Washington side of the U.S.-Canada border in Snoqualmie National Forest. A fourth man in an SUV was also arrested and Bafaro was later nabbed at a Bellingham hotel. Border agents had followed snowshoe tracks and caught Neary and Daryl Fontana, a 37-year-old Duncan fitness-centre owner. Neary and Fontana initially claimed they'd got lost while hiking in Canada and had accidentally crossed the border. While they were talking, an SUV driven by Carl Thiessen arrived. He told agents he was a writer looking for a secluded place to write. Agents found almost $5,000 in U.S. and Canadian currency in the SUV as well as several bags of food. A fifth man, Sinisa Gavric, was found after agents heard branches breaking. Four backpacks containing heat-sealed packages of marijuana were found hidden in the area. According to court documents, Neary admitted to making the eight-hour hike, equipped with a machete. Each hiker expected to get $10,000, said the documents. Neary was founder of the Vancouver agency Frank Advertising and, while at Telus, had helped to create the Telus TV ads featuring cute animals. He was jailed for conspiracy to distribute marijuana by Seattle District Court Judge Marsha Pechman. "You may have done this for lots of different reasons but not for any good ones," Pechman told Neary. She said the marijuana coming south from B.C. was just one element of the crime and there was evidence of a larger conspiracy involving the smuggling of cocaine and methamphetamine into Canada. Thiessen was sentenced to one year in jail and Gavric got an eight-month jail term when both appeared in court Sept. 17. Fontana is due to be sentenced Oct. 1 and Bafaro on Oct. 15. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt