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.