Alan James Mulder and Christian D. Laurin Plead Guilty in U.S. Federal Court
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings on January 6, 2009, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, ALAN JAMES MULDER, age 20, and CHRISTIAN D. LAURIN, age 20, residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute/distribution of ecstasy. Sentencing is set for April 8, 2009. They are currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On February 09, 2008, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 94 near Glendive. LAURIN was the driver of the vehicle, Timothy M. Morneau was the front seat passenger, and MULDER was in the back seat. The vehicle was registered to MULDER and his parents.
During the course of the traffic stop the trooper had reason to believe there was illegal conduct taking place and asked for and received consent to search the vehicle from MULDER. The trooper asked them to follow him to the Montana Highway Patrol Office in Glendive to conduct the search due to the bad weather conditions.
During a search of the vehicle, three duffle bags were removed from the rear compartment of the car. A green duffle bag was opened revealing plastic bags wrapped in tape. One of the plastic bags was removed and found to contain tablets with a dolphin logo imprinted on them. The trooper recognized the tablets as being consistent with ecstasy. All three were then arrested for criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
The consent search was stopped and a search warrant was prepared and received for the vehicle. A large amount of ecstasy was recovered during a search of the vehicle,.
They each face possible penalties of 20 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
Morneau was found guilty at trial and is awaiting sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Seykora prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Montana Highway Patrol, the Dawson County Sheriff's Office, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
