Canadian man who crossed border to buy gas pleads guilty to felony count

Boston.Com ^ | 3/10/2003 19:39 | Associated Press

[FreedomCalls]

BANGOR, Maine (AP) A Canadian man jailed for more than a month after crossing the border to buy cheap gas pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count as part of a deal that will spare him additional jail time.

Michel Jalbert of Pohenegamook, Quebec, was arrested in October after he crossed the border into Estcourt and failed to check in with customs. Border Patrol agents also found a .20-gauge shotgun that Jalbert said he had in his car for hunting.

[FreedomCalls]

Nuremberg 1946: "We were just following orders."
Maine 2003: "We were just doing our job."

[DensaMensa]

A classic example of how to turn friends into enemies.

[Brian Allen]

<< A Canadian man jailed for more than a month after crossing the border to buy cheap gas ..... >>

Meanwhile, at a national cost to American taxpayers of more than Seventy Billion Dollars Per Year, a nett three thousand criminal alien invaders cross our Southern border every damned day of the year, with impunity and piss on our sovereignty and our law -- and we look the other way?

Go figger.

[Fixit]

I just think this part need to be emphasized:

But critics said it was wrong to arrest somebody on a driveway that leads nowhere except to a gas station, where scores of Canadians went each day.

What lead to this guy, out of "scores," getting stopped?

[usurper]

I get the distinct impression that there is a big something missing from this article. I am willing to bet this guy must have had a significant criminal record or previous formal deportations which would have excluded him from entry into the US even if the port of entry was open.

[WellsFargo94]

Exactly. Not to mention the illegal parents who came for their daughters' heart/lung transplant that will now be suing the hospital that provided much of their care free of charge.

[FreedomCalls]

"Significant" is a judgement call. I'll leave it up to you to judge if his prior conviction is "significant." Here is the same story from a Maine newspaper:

BANGOR — A Canadian who was jailed for more than a month after crossing the border to buy cheap gasoline pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count as part of a deal that will spare him additional jail time.

Michel Jalbert of Pohenegamook, Quebec, pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony charge of entering the country as an illegal alien with a firearm. Other charges against him were dismissed.

As part of the plea deal, Jalbert, whose wife is a U.S. citizen, agreed never to enter the United States again.

Jalbert said Friday that he has no intention of returning to the United States. "I know I committed an error, and I learned a lesson," he said.

U.S. District Judge George Singal sentenced Jalbert to 35 days already served in jail and two years of supervised release, while dismissing any possible fines.

The 33-year-old was charged last October when he crossed the border without checking in with U.S. Customs. Border Patrol agents arrested him in the parking lot of a two-pump gas station in Estcourt at the northernmost tip of Maine, just hours after his wife had a baby.

Jalbert, who had a hunting shotgun in his vehicle at the time, was charged with entering the country illegally, being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was convicted in Canada in 1990 of breaking and entering and possession of stolen property.

The arrest of Jalbert, who was released on bail in November, sparked international debate. Even U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the case during a visit to Canada.

Critics said it was wrong to arrest somebody on a driveway that leads nowhere except to a gas station, where scores of Canadians went each day for cheap gas. Canadians have casually crossed into Estcourt, population 4, for generations, and the Maine-Quebec border even cuts through the middle of some houses.

The Border Patrol said its agents were merely doing their job, and that nobody is exempt from the law. Since the terrorist attacks, security has been beefed up along the porous 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border and border agents have cracked down against all lawbreakers.

[usurper]

He was convicted in Canada in 1990 of breaking and entering and possession of stolen property.

I figured it was something like that, I admit it does sound a bit excessive particularly because it is such an out of the way border crossing. This case sounds rather exceptional, probably why it made the news. The strict enforcement of our immigration laws is news to me.