A Winnipeg woman has pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge in Minnesota, after she and another woman were accused of taking a brick of cocaine across the Canada-U.S. border.
Krystle De Leon, 39, was given a stayed four-year sentence when a Roseau County District Court judge accepted a plea deal Monday.
Court documents said De Leon was driving a car that was stopped by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at the Warroad, Minn., port of entry, about 180 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, at about 1 p.m. on March 31.
She allegedly told the officer that she and passenger Sarah Sophia Rose, 32, were driving to Nestor Falls, Ont., and did not intend to enter the U.S.
A federal text alert noted De Leon had previously been flagged for “suspicious travel” and “possible drug smuggling,” the documents said.
U.S. officers said they found a brick of cocaine within a vacuum-sealed bag that was inside a brown paper bag on the back seat.
The brick weighed almost 288 grams and was estimated to be worth nearly US$30,000.
Court documents allege De Leon and Rose admitted the brick was cocaine, but said it didn’t belong to them.
De Leon told police she was paid $2,000 to transport the cocaine to Nestor Falls, about 70 kilometres southeast of Kenora, Ont.
Officers found a bag with a small amount of cocaine and $420 in Rose’s wallet, the documents allege. The bag weighed about 3.4 grams.
De Leon pleaded guilty to second-degree drug possession, a felony, after an original charge of first-degree sale of at least 17 grams of cocaine within a 90-day period was amended in the plea deal.
She was handed two years of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000. She also had to forfeit her vehicle.
A charge of first-degree possession of at least 50 grams of cocaine was dismissed.
Rose is charged with aiding and abetting first-degree sale, first-degree possession and gross misdemeanour fifth-degree drug possession for a smaller amount of cocaine. She was released on bail following her arrest.
Her case is scheduled to return to court next month.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca