Lillooet man sentenced in 2006 ecstasy smuggling case

A Lillooet man who fought his extradition to the U.S. for years has now been sentenced in Minnesota to seven years behind bars for drug smuggling.
Andrew Gordon Wakeling appeared before Chief District Court Judge John R. Tunheim earlier this month after earlier pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute ecstasy.
Wakeling’s challenge of the wiretap evidence against him, which was obtained with the assistance of the RCMP, went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
A year ago, the highest court ruled Wakeling could be extradited.
The U.S. Attorney argued in court documents that Wakeling was the leader of a conspiracy to smuggle 46,000 ecstasy pills into the U.S. in 2006 and should receive a sentence of between 9 and 11 years.
His co-accused in the case Rodney Godbout was sentenced to eight years, the documents signed by Asst. U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen said.
“Wakeling’s criminal history is somewhat more extensive than was Godbout’s. Wakeling has nine prior convictions dating back to 1984 for multiple burglaries, thefts, assault causing bodily harm, trafficking in a narcotic drug, and obstructing a police officer,” Paulsen’s sentencing document said. “It is fair to say that Wakeling has lived a life of crime. His participation in the present conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the United States is not out of character, even though he may contend otherwise.”
Paulsen said Wakeling and Godbout didn’t “take the risks of smuggling the drugs across the border themselves, they employed couriers to do it for them.”
Wakeling’s lawyer Robert D. Richman argued that a sentence of three years was more appropriate for the B.C. man, minus time served in custody.
“This offense occurred over nine years ago in April of 2006. Since then, while his case was slogging through the Canadian courts, Mr. Wakeling was supporting his family, starting a business, and being a lawful, productive member of society,” Richman said. “Mr. Wakeling’s role in the instant offense was simply as a conduit of information between buyer and seller. His culpability is significantly less, therefore, than that of his codefendant or of the average member of a drug conspiracy.”
He said “Wakeling will serve his sentence under far harsher circumstances, exiled from his country and cut off from his family and friends, than an American defendant would face.”
Wakeling was arrested in 2007 on Canadian charges for smuggling ecstasy from Ontario to Minnesota. Those charges were later stayed.