VERMONT

Man with sled full of drugs agrees to plea deal

Adam Silverman
Free Press Staff Writer
The boundary marker cut into the forest marks the line between Canadian territory on the right and Vermont on the left.

A Quebec man arrested in January after Border Patrol agents say they caught him dragging a sled loaded with prescription medication into Vermont has agreed to a plea deal.

Cedrik Bourgault-Morin, 21, was wearing winter camouflage clothing when he trudged across the U.S. border while pulling the sled, which carried nearly 200 pounds of alprazolam, an anti-anxiety medication commonly known by the brand name Xanax. The drugs were worth about $1.6 million, court papers state.

According to a plea deal filed this week in federal court in Burlington, Bourgault-Morin intends to plead guilty to a charge of possession with intent to distribute. He faces up to five years in prison, a maximum of a lifetime of supervised release and no more than $250,000 in fines, the plea agreement shows.

A change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for May 2. He previously pleaded not guilty to a one-count indictment.

A message left with his lawyer, federal public defender David McColgin, was not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon. U.S. Attorney for Vermont Eric Miller also could not be reached.

Bourgault-Morin was arrested after agents found a duffel bag on the sled that weighed 182 pounds and contained 300 vacuum-sealed bags of the depressants, which are a federal controlled substance, according to court papers.

Documents offered no details about where the drugs might have been headed, but the U.S. District Court records pointed to a wider cross-border conspiracy.

A Border Patrol agents works along the boundary marker cut into the forest between Canadian territory on the right and Vermont on the left.

"The circumstances of his offense indicate he had the assistance of co-conspirators on the Canadian side of the border, and he was anticipating assistance of co-conspirators on the American side of the border," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt wrote in court papers filed after Bourgault-Morin's arrest.

The plea deal notes that despite the agreement, government lawyers "may prosecute the defendant for his involvement in a broader conspiracy to import and distribute controlled substances."

Among the provisions of the agreement, Bourgault-Morin must cooperate "truthfully and completely" with the Probation Office during a pre-sentencing investigation.

Feds: Man pulled drug-laden sled into Vermont

The incident began at about 1 a.m. Jan. 13 when someone tripped sensors along railroad tracks leading from the international border into North Troy, according to court papers. The Orleans County village is on the Canadian border, with the village center about 1 mile south of the boundary by road.

U.S. Border Patrol agents who responded "observed a single adult male, dressed in white camouflage clothing, walking along the railroad tracks and pulling a sled behind him. The sled contained one large duffel bag wrapped in white camouflage," according to a criminal complaint written by Agent John McGarghan.

Footprints and sled tracks led south from the border toward North Troy. The suspect, who spoke no English, was arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the United States. Court papers said he had no connections to Vermont.

A Border Patrol agent looks over security screens in the command center in Swanton.

This story was first posted online on April 6, 2016. Contact Adam Silverman at 802-660-1854 or asilverman@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wej12.