Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Law

Canadian who flew pot into US gets 10 years

A helicopter pilot from Armstrong, British Columbia, who flew loads of marijuana into the United States from Canada has been sentenced in federal court in Seattle to 10 years in prison.

The U.S. attorney's office said 61-year-old Henry Rosenau was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to import marijuana, just before he was to go on trial for a second time. His first trial ended in a hung jury.

Rosenau admitted that between 2000 and 2005 he flew dozens of loads of marijuana into forested areas of Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Prosecutors say the man was identified during Operation Frozen Timber, which targeted organized criminal groups smuggling B.C. Bud marijuana south from Canada into the U.S. by helicopter and smuggling cocaine north into Canada. More than 40 people were indicted.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman told Rosenau that he had, in her words, "skills that you turned into something sinister for your own greed."

Tags
The Associated Press (“AP”) is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from the AP. Founded in 1846, the AP today is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. The AP considers itself to be the backbone of the world’s information system, serving thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television, and online customers with coverage in text, photos, graphics, audio and video.