A $4,000 fine hasn’t tarnished David Vance Brown’s love for the True North strong and free.
The 65-year-old California man got into trouble with Canadian authorities last July when he cruised into Bedwell Harbour, Pender Island, and failed to declare 12 cases of Pinot Noir, beer and other spirits worth $1,500.
The authorities seized the alcohol and Brown, a former school board member and volunteer firefighter, paid a fine of $570 for the return of his boat, a Victoria court heard last week.
Then Brown, his wife and a friend continued on their 60-day trip to dive and do underwater photography near Haida Gwaii.
“I paid the fine. I thought it was a done deal,” Brown said.
But it wasn’t.
Unbeknownst to Brown, the Crown approved charges against him and a warrant — not a summons — was issued for his arrest, said his defence lawyer Jesse Stamm.
On July 2, when Brown and his family returned to Bedwell Harbour on their way to Haida Gwaii, Brown ended up in, what he called the “hoosegow” for eight hours. And on Thursday, Brown pleaded guilty to making a false statement to Canadian authorities and attempting to evade paying duties on alcohol.
Prosecutor Tom Corsi told the court that when Brown arrived in Bedwell Harbour on his 76-foot trawler on July 6, 2012, he declared some alcohol, but not enough to attract duties.
Officers boarded the boat and found “144 bottles of wine, 60 cans of beer, five litres of whiskey, eight litres of tequila, three litres of vodka, seven litres of rum, three litres of Bailey’s, one litre of Triple Sec and one bottle of port,” Corsi said.
A nervous Brown told the officers he knew about the alcohol.
“He stated he had messed up. He was embarrassed about what he had done and it was not like him to lie,” Corsi said.
The duties on the undeclared alcohol would be $3,365.88, said Corsi, who asked Victoria provincial court Judge Evan Blake to impose a $5,000 fine.
Stamm asked the court for indulgence and a fine of $1,000. Brown is of outstanding character and has no criminal record, he said.
“The offence was simply laziness. He did not wish to pause in Canada on their way to Haida Gwaii,” Stamm said. “There was no intent for profit. The alcohol was for personal consumption.”
Brown has admitted responsibility and is embarrassed, Stamm said.
“He simply took a short cut, but it was a very expensive one. He lost $1,500 worth of alcohol, paid a $570 fine and was released on a bail on a $1,000 deposit. He also spent eight hours in custody in severe, hot conditions.”
In the end, Blake decided the appropriate fine was $4,000. If the duty owing was $3,300, the fine for evading it and giving a false statement to authorities should be more, he reasoned.
“It would be sending entirely the wrong message to impose a fine that is less than the duty that would have been owing if appropriate steps had been taken,” Blake said.
The $4,000 penalty must be paid by Oct. 15.
“I appreciate Mr. Brown has an impeccable history and has not been in trouble with the law before and this has undoubtedly been a chilling and humbling experience for him.”
Outside court, Brown had nothing but kind words for the Canadian border officials who, he said, went out of their way to treat him with real respect and inquire about his health problems. Even though he drank boxed wine in the last year, instead of his favoured California Foggy Bridge Pinot Noir, he is still enamored with Canada.
“I love Canada,” Brown said. “Obviously, I’m more pissed off at myself because the law is the law. I knew the law.”
The family will now continue on their vacation to Haida Gwaii.
