A 51-year-old Albertan was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in a U.S. prison for attempting to smuggle roughly 650 kilograms of methamphetamine into Canada via a boat from the San Juan Islands.
Ted Karl Faupel was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute last May, after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol encountered his 18-foot speedboat riding low in the water near Stuart Island, close to the international border and not far from Saanich.
Weighing down the boat were 28 duffle bags filled with 539 packages of methamphetamine. Faupel had a loaded firearm within reach, noted a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
Also noted at a sentencing hearing was gang paraphernalia found in the boat.
According to the indictment, Faupel said he drove the boat from Sidney after being paid $1,000 to pick up luggage in Anacortes on the U.S. side of the border and deliver it to a marina in Sidney. After picking up the duffle bags, Faupel claimed he drove the boat in circles and contemplated turning the boat in to the police, but he did not because he feared for his family’s safety.
“You don’t start transporting drugs for [a violent street gang] if you fear for your family. … This is a very dangerous group and [Faupel] chose to gamble with his family’s safety,” said U.S. District Judge James L. Robart.
“This huge load of methamphetamine represents hundreds of thousands of doses on the streets of Canada,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. “We know violent criminal gangs get rich off the pain of addiction. I am glad this shipment is off the streets and not furthering addiction and the gang violence that is part and parcel of the drug trade.”
Ten years was the minimum sentence Faupel faced for such a charge.
