Posted on 08/30/2013 6:45:59 PM PDT by rickmichaels
ST. CATHARINES, ONT. - A disgraced Niagara Regional Police officer has been fined $15,000 for his part in a scheme that involved smuggling copious quantities of cheese and chicken wings across across the border.
Casey Langelaan, 49, resigned from the police service last year after he was caught up in a large-scale smuggling operation that saw thousands of dollars worth of U.S. cheese and chicken wings smuggled into Canada and sold to Ontario restaurants.
"A man of otherwise good character has been embarrassed and shamed in his community," Judge David Harris said Friday after Langelaan pleaded guilty in a St. Catharines, Ont., courtroom to charges of evading compliance with the Canada Customs Act and possession of imported goods.
Court heard the investigation began in January 2012 and involved Niagara police, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Canada Border Services Agency.
The investigation initially focused on the cross-border activities of another NRP officer, Const. Geoff Purdie, who is now serving time behind bars in an American jail for smuggling steroids into Canada.
When investigators questioned Purdie, he offered up Langelaan, a sergeant at the time and making well over $100,000 a year, as a fellow smuggler.
But instead of smuggling steroids, court heard, Langelaan's preference was cheese and chicken wings.
No one was interested in the poultry, court heard, but Langelaan, a resident of Fort Erie, sold the cheese to restaurants in Aylmer and Dorchester, Ont., at a profit of more than $50,000.
Lawyer Paul O'Marra described his client as a "highly respected officer" whose reputation has taken a “major hit” because of the crimes.
O'Marra said Langelaan has also suffered a blow to his pocketbook.
Canada Borders Services Agency wants him to pay a penalty of $50,000, almost three times the amount of duties and taxes the former cop didn't pay at the border. That matter is subject to civil litigation.
His taxes were also re-assessed.
Two other people were arrested as a result of the investigation that revealed more than $200,000 worth of cheese had been purchased in the U.S. and distributed in Canada. Const. Scott Herron and Bernie Pollino are scheduled to appear in court Dec. 12.
According to the CBSA, travellers can bring back, duty free, $20 or 20 kilograms in total (whichever limit is reached first) of dairy products.
It must also be for personal consumption. If it is used for commercial purposes a permit is required and duties are charged accordingly.
DANG. Drugs, smokes, or bibles I can see smugglin’ but “chicken wings”?
Those darned Canadians are saying that OUR cheese isn’t good enough for them? That’s crossing a red line. Hey, Comrade Obama, give em 72 hours of cruise missiles as punishment.
Is there a shortage of cheese and chicken wings in Canada, or is ours that much better?
Operation Wing Walker?
Just when you thought you’d seen it all. We have a worthless communist moron in the White House, our congress is mostly a bunch of spineless retards, but the big issue of the day is a Canadian smuggling cheese and chicken wings???!!!
He could have gotten away with it if he had the chickens fly over the border carrying the dam*ed cheese...
smile
smile
(what a big-time criminal!, ha!)
Mafia hit man: I’m in jail for 6 murders. What you in here for, mister?
This guy: er, un....carrying chicken wings across the border, eh?
My Dad used to tell the story about how he and several of his siblings used to smuggle turkey’s across the border during the depression,using their sister’s house in St Albans,VT,which is 30 minutes south of the border,as “headquarters”.They weren’t involved in the *really* serious stuff (like the Kennedys with booze).No drugs,or wads of cash or anything like that.After the Depression was over they all became respectable...they were forced into doing it to get by.They’re all deceased now so nobody can be prosecuted.
Smuggled Canadian turkeys? There was probably a bigger fine than smuggled Mexicans...unless the turkeys voted Democrat.
I recall being underage in the US but of age in Canada and flying back to the US with a case of Molson Brador in my carry on bag with no problems. That was in the mid 1980s.
I also recall walking from Chihuahua to Texas in the mid 1990s with a case of Tecate and the state of TX taxing that beer even though it was for export to and consumption in NM. In the mid 2000’s I had my proscuitto confiscated by customs while returning from italy. There have been other incidents too numerous to mention.
Now we can’t even import cheese and wings? We’ve slowly degraded over the decades.
Where an ice cream maker can only use American milk if the ice cream is exported to the USA.
Where a dairy farmer pays more for his prodution quota than he spends on his cattle.
To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.
Canada Ping!
Yours are no better but a helluva lot cheaper, because dairy and chicken farmers in Ontario are subject to quotas. 4 litres (slightly more than a US gallon) is usually $4-$5 and 375g (~12oz) of wings is usually in the $5 range.
If you have to ask that...
If you want authentic Buffalo wings, you have to get them from Buffalo.
Running Rum from the Kennedy’s is one thing. Wings and cheese is just to much.
I have a friend who works as an inspector for Agriculture Canada (farms during growing season, importers during winter), and foodstuffs coming in are watched closely. Their focus is on products coming in from areas with a temperate climate (tropical bugs won’t survive a winter here). Bring back a live plant or fresh produce from overseas and I can pretty much guarantee that they will seize it and incinerate it the same day.
Then some idiot swabbie on a cargo ship empties the bilge water into Lake Ontario and the zebra mussels play hell with the water supply for 50 million people...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
