light sentence for mother in u.s drug ring

[mopsie]

LIGHT SENTENCE FOR MOTHER IN U.S. DRUG RING
Vancouver Woman Gets 15 Months In Jail For Trying To Traffic 15,000 Ecstasy Pills

A young Vancouver woman who had political aspirations tearfully apologized in a Seattle courtroom Friday for her attempt to traffic ecstasy in the U.S. last year.

"I messed up and I am very sorry," Ravinderjit Kaur Puar told U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour.

The judge sentenced Puar to 15 months in jail and three years supervised release after she pleaded guilty last fall for her role in a cross-border drug trafficking ring.

Puar, who also uses her married name Shergill, ran unsuccessfully for the NDP nomination in Vancouver-Kensington and was elected as a federal Liberal delegate to the leadership race won by then-prime minister Paul Martin.

U.S. sentencing guidelines indicated the 31-year-old B.C. woman should have received 70 to 87 months for her crime.

But Coughenour reduced her time considerably because she has a four-year-old daughter, said Emily Langlie, of the U.S. Attorney's office.

Langlie said Puar's lawyer argued that she participated in the trafficking of ecstasy only out of desperation because her husband had an "out-of-control" drug problem that was draining the family financially.

Puar was arrested last June 30 after a month-long sting by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She boasted on secretly made tapes about being in a drug gang involved in the sale of ecstasy and marijuana and also said she did not want any "heat" because both she and her father are politicians.

"We don't drop our weed off here. We take it all the way to California," Puar was also quoted in U.S court documents. She also bragged she had the power to put anyone who crossed her or her drug gang "six feet under."

"Yeah, it's that simple. That's what the game is like in Vancouver. You f... with us, you die. Well, I don't know if you listen to the news and stuff. In Vancouver ... you pay for it and you know how bad you pay for it," Puar told the U.S. agent.

But her lawyer said in court Friday that Puar's comments were "unbelievable" and she was simply hyping herself to a potential client without knowing the person was an undercover agent.

Puar first provided the agent with 2,700 "blue dolphin" pills that cost $3.50 US each. She then maintained phone contact and held meetings with the DEA agent throughout June 2005, offering 15,000 ecstasy pills ranging from $3.50 to $5 US each.

Three others nabbed in the same DEA sting are due to be sentenced in June, Langlie said.

Puar's father Kalwant Singh is on the executive of Vancouver's Ross Street Sikh temple and is a long-time federal Liberal supporter.

Puar was working at the B.C. Cancer Agency at the time of her arrest and lived in her father's south Vancouver home.


source mapt

[The Doors]

She gets less then a year in jail for trafficing that much? The "average citizen" would've had to do more time then that.

[Sky Walker]

Originally Posted by The Doors

She gets less then a year in jail for trafficing that much? The "average citizen" would've had to do more time then that.

She is actually getting a year and 3 months worth of incarceration. On the average citizen front though you are quite right, you see America seems to have this strange system that is almost in a sense backwards. Where as murders, thieves and rapists go about their daily business it is only in extreme cases that justice will actually be sought and these real criminals will be sentenced, even then sentencing for these crimes is, on many occasions less time than could be received for a simple victim less nonviolent drugs conviction. A clear example of how screwy and backward your laws are can be illustrated by reading about the unfortunate young lad that has had two years of his life taken from him for the measly amount of 1.12grames of grass, http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17893.

The only reason I can see for the legal system to go easy on traffickers is simply because they need more of them, had this shipment of pills gone through this woman would have been responsible for creating criminals. In the unlikely hypothetical event that these pills were being sold only one per person this would effectively create 15000 chances for law enforcement to move in and bust 15000 simple possessors, tell me, what is better one bust for multiple pills or multiple busts for one pill. Obviously multiple busts as this creates a vastly larger profit margin. To sentence this one woman for roughly a year will cost tax payers an average of $25900 thus making the government that little bit wealthier. On the other hand to sentence 15000 so called criminals for a year will generate a much nicer number for the government, $388500000. Wow what a lot of money, don't forget this really is a “War On Drug Users” keep yourself safe. Oh yea look out for a continuation of reduced sentencing for traffickers, maybe?