Arden McCann, this resident of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville who exported large quantities of fentanyl and Xanax counterfeit in the United States through the underground Internet, has just been sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment per imprisonment per imprisonment per imprisonment per imprisonment per imprisonment per imprisonment A judge of the state of Georgia.
Posted at 2 p.m. 12
Updated at 5:13 p.m.
This heavy sentence imposed on McCann arrives at the time when US President Donald Trump is showing Canada as one of the presence in his fentanyl country who creates the ravages and this conviction aroused reactions on both sides the border.
“This country is in the midst of a catastrophic epidemic of overdoses where the threat posed by synthetic opioids disguised as false prescription drugs is extremely high. The FBI will do everything necessary to hold the criminals that sell counterfeit drugs, “said Sean Burke, an acting special agent responsible for the FBI of Atlanta.
“The question of fentanyl and illicit opioids remains a major concern for the Royal Canada Gendarmerie (RCMP), and we remain determined to collaborate with our international partners responsible for the application of the law to actively pursue the criminal networks that feed this Epidemia of public health, “said the superintendent Marie-Ève Lavallée, patronizes criminal operations on the organized Canadian police crime program in the Eastern Region (Quebec and Maritimes) who took part in the investigation initiated by the United States.
Thousands of transactions
According to American court documents, McCann, through only two clandestine Internet platforms, sent 8,345 substances orders for more than $ 10 million US dollars, between 2015 and 2020.
He sent his substances in 49 of the 50 American states and these caused at least one deadly overdose.
Arden McCann would have boasted an accomplice that his business brought him a million dollars monthly.
According to the proof, McCann bought drugs and precursor products from China, South Korea or elsewhere, and had them delivered to American customers who have become relayers.
-They treated drugs and sent it by post to American consumers. All transactions were made in cryptocurrency.
Relayers who became employee witnesses helped the police to get McCann.
The fact that he continued his trade despite a police search carried out at his home in 2015, that 15 firearms were found in his residence during this search, and that synthetic cannabis was discovered in his cell of his American prison Last year probably did not help the cause of McCann.
A million dollars fine
By rendering his decision, judge Jean-Paul Boulec recommended to the Prisons Office of the United States that McCann, 37, be detained in a center which offers a treatment program against drug addiction.
He also had the sentence of a ten -year probation period and sentenced McCann to a fine of a million dollars.
The judge also said he understood that the prisons office will grant a two -year credit, three months and twelve days for the period of preventive detention spent in Quebec, between February 26, 2020, the day of his arrest by the Royal Gendarmerie of Canada , and on June 9, 2022, his extradition day in the United States.
McCann could however ask that his sentence be purged in Canada.
According to the criminalist and expert in prison law, Me Jacques Normandeau, McCann will be able to do it six months after his conviction. Usually, the United States responds to such a request within three to six months, but even if it accepts, it can be long before the convicted person is transferred to a penitentiary in Quebec.
“The problem is in Canada. The authorities take a lot of time to answer when they do. A response can take two or three years and Quebecers owned in the United States abandon their steps because their time is expired. But with the sentence he received, it is worth it that he makes the request, ”says Mr.e Normandeau, which makes an average of three or four international transfers per year.
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