Border Patrol agents seized 226 pounds of marijuana and took one man into custody late Monday night in northern Vermont near the Canadian border, according to court filings.
Scott Cameron, a Canadian citizen, is facing a felony charge of importing marijuana into the United States from Canada, court records stated.
He was taken into custody Monday night after border patrol agents say he was spotted with two other people carrying large packs on their backs in a wooded area in North Troy near the international border. Cameron tried, according to the agents, to flee back to Canada before he was eventually captured.
The other two people got away, but, according to court records, they all dropped their packs which were seized, revealing a total of 226 pounds of marijuana.
Cameron made an initial court appearance late Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Burlington. No plea was entered at the hearing.
Magistrate Judge John Conroy did grant a request from the federal prosecutor to detain Cameron as the case is pending.
In ordering Cameron held in custody, Conroy cited his criminal record which included violating release conditions in Canada.
In addition, according to Conroy, U.S. Border Patrol agents say Cameron did not obey commands to stop and was captured Monday night after one of the agents tased him.
Attorney Steven Barth, Cameron’s public defender, had argued for his client’s release. Barth said people from Canada can be extradited back to the United States if they fail to return on their own.
Also, Barth talked about the alleged offense against his client.
“I don’t think this can go without saying that this is a marijuana offense, your honor,” Barth said, “While I understand that cross-border trafficking is a serious issue there’s no suggestion that Mr. Cameron or anybody was bringing anything other than marijuana into the United States.”
Barth added, “This was not heroin, this was not cocaine, it was not illegal aliens, it was marijuana.”
U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jonathan Mayfield wrote in an affidavit in support of the criminal charge that two other border patrol agents, Steve Marchessault and Keith Daszkiewiczw, were patrolling in the area of Journey’s End Road in North Troy.
A property in that area that is about three-quarters of a mile from the United States and Canadian border had been the site of a “smuggling event” in June, the affidavit stated.
Beyond that property, Mayfield wrote, is heavily wooded land with no other buildings or road between the site and the international border.
As two agents walked into the wooded area, the affidavit stated, they heard noise and with the use of night vision goggles saw three people “carrying very large packs on their backs” walking south from the direction of the border toward them.
When those three people got within 40 feet of the two agents, Mayfield wrote, they each dropped their packs and ran north, back toward the border despite orders from the agents to stop.
Marchessault, one the border agents, followed a fleeing man, later identified as Cameron, and again ordered him to stop, but Cameron didn’t, according to the affidavit.
“Knowing that smugglers of contraband are frequently armed, and with no backup readily available, Agent Marchessault deployed his service-issued taser,” Mayfield wrote. “The taser deployment was successful, thus rendering the subject temporarily incapacitated.”
Cameron was taken to the Newport border station for questioning while the other two people got away, the affidavit stated. The agents did, however, recover all three packs that contained “individually-wrapped packages” of marijuana weighing a total of 226 pounds.
Cameron, who later complained of nausea, was taken to North Country Hospital in Newport where he was treated and released after about two hours.
Federal prosecutors argued that Cameron should be held in jail, calling him a flight risk who entered the United States with a large amount of marijuana on his back.
“Moreover, he did so at a time when lawful travel between the United States and Canada is restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” U.S. Assistant Attorney John Boscia wrote in a filing seeking Cameron’s detention.
“Cameron’s willingness to flaunt international border-crossing restrictions,” the filing added, “suggests that if he were released, he would not abide by Court-imposed conditions, including appearing for further proceedings.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Border patrol arrests Canadian man in northern Vermont, 226 pounds of marijuana seized.