Former semi-pro hockey player who agreed to turn into a mule for organized crime to write off $ 60,000 sports betting debt could serve 70 months in a US prison after being caught with 45 kilos of coke in Kansas.
Vincent Muller’s plan and his companion, Anne-Marie Dubé, could have worked if they had not been intercepted because they were following another vehicle too closely, on August 8, 2019.
Court documents including The newspaper obtained a copy shed light on the failure of this importation and how organized crime came to recruit mules to transport drugs.
A few days before their arrest, the duo had taken the plane from Quebec to Los Angeles, where people deposited the 45 kilos of cocaine in a rental vehicle. Their goal: to cross the United States to New York.
Other individuals awaited them there with their precious cargo, with a resale value approaching $ 2 million. The drugs then had to cross the border into Canada.
Several suspicions
But Quebecers were never able to get to their destination, because they quickly raised the suspicions of the patroller who intercepted them.
Their significant nervousness, their evasive answers about their route, the presence of three cell phones and a lot of food waste motivated the officer to have the vehicle searched. A sniffer dog alerted the patroller to the presence of narcotics and they were arrested.
“It’s common for drug dealers’ cars to look like this, since they don’t make a lot of stops and go through the country quickly. […] They commonly use disposable phones (burner phones) ”, One notes in a document, referring to the testimony of the police officer.
Pay off debts
It was because of a large debt that Vincent Muller was approached to become a mule. The former strongman’s setbacks began after his hockey career when his “desire to compete” drove him into sports betting. However, he developed a “serious problem” and came to owe $ 60,000.
The 36-year-old met at an undetermined time an individual, referred to as “Pete”, in court documents. ” [Il lui] said he could make enough money to pay off his gambling debts by transporting drugs from one place to another, ”a statement authored by Muller’s lawyer read.
The latter would have agreed to make only two trips to pay what he owed. Vincent Muller would then have turned to Anne-Marie Dubé to accompany him on this journey. The young woman was to receive financial compensation, in particular because she was responsible for driving.
The two Quebecers pleaded guilty to the charges against them of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. They tried to challenge the legality of their interception, but without success.
” Pawns “
A joint suggestion of 50 months in prison had been put forward, but a judge sentenced Muller to serve 70 months instead. He appealed this sentence. Dubé has still not received his sentence.
” [Les mules] are only examples of pawns employed to do the dirty work and take all the risks, underlined the lawyer of the Quebecer, while trying to minimize his level of implication.
When announcing his arrest, our Bureau of Investigation revealed that the now 36-year-old man was a Hells Angels business acquaintance. However, the documents do not indicate for which organization he lugged the cocaine.
– With Andrea Valeria
Quebec and LA
Photos from court documents
On August 5, 2019, Vincent Muller and Anne-Marie Dubé departed Quebec on a flight to Los Angeles, California. When they arrive, they take a rental car and the 45 kilos of coke are deposited there.
LA in New York
The duo’s plan was to travel the nearly 4,500 km between Los Angeles and New York. Individuals were waiting for them to collect the drugs.
Arrested in Kansas
Photo taken from court documents
The two Quebecers were intercepted on I-70, in Kansas, in the county of Wabaunsee, not far from Topeka. Their nervousness and inconsistencies in their itinerary aroused suspicion from the police officer, who had the vehicle searched. The drugs were then found.
New York to Montreal
The traffickers responsible for importing took care of the last step, which was to get the drugs across the Canadian border.