Canadian sentenced to imprisonment of 13 years for involvement in smuggle scheme of altered gas tank in Suv.

42-year-old James Leystra, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has been sentenced to a to 13.5 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Import Ecstasy, Unlawful Importation of Ecstasy and Possession of Ecstasy with Intent to Distribute.

The sentence was imposed by US District Court in Seattle. Leystra was convicted on 6th of February 2008. At sentencing, US District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez said the idea of importing 70 kilos of ecstasy pills and then making its way into this state to be parceled out at discos and raves is a very serious crime. He was referring to the recent death of a Washington teenager that occurred due to ecstasy.

According to the evidences and testimony during the trial, on November 29, 2006, Leystra was stopped at the border, while he was driving his 1995 Chevrolet Suburban. Leystra was then sent for secondary inspection, where an alert officer noticed that something was not normal with the Suburban gas tank. Finally, the officers found that there was more than 70 kilos of ecstasy inside, which was worth almost $4.5 million.

At trial Leystra swore that he was an ‘unknowing mule’ and he was simply driving across the border as a part of his car import business. Records revealed that since July 2006, Leystra had crossed the border ten times, with the stated purpose of driving to California in order to purchase cars. With the modified gas tank, the maximum gas that Suburban could carry is 12.5 gallons. Gas receipts shown as evidence disclosed that Leystra made frequent stops for filling up gas and never filled up the tank with more than 12.5 gallons of gas. Prosecutors argued that frequent stops to fill up his SUV with small amounts of gas clearly imply that Leystra knew about the modified gas tank in his SUV.

The prosecutors asked for lengthy sentence as Leystra lied repeatedly on the witness stand and was also involved in the importation of ecstasy. Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo that Leystra’s crime was very serious as it involved one of the largest seizures of ecstasy at the Washington border. They wrote that the quantity and value of the illegal drug that Leystra had concealed in his Suburban was almost $4,585,420.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) investigated the case and it was prosecuted by Karyn Johnson and Susan Loitz, Assistant United States Attorneys