Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on March 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, appeared for sentencing.

MULDER and LAURIN were each sentenced to a term of:

• Prison: 48 months

• Special Assessment: $100

• Supervised Release: 3 years

They were sentenced in connection with their guilty pleas to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute/distribution of ecstasy.

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.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that they will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, they do have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

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.

 

 

Return to Top