FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 13, 2008
INFORMATIONAL: FEDERAL COURT ARRAIGNMENTS
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on March 13, 2008, before Senior U.S. Judge Richard W. Anderson, the following individuals were arraigned:
TIMOTHY MORNEAU, CHRISTIAN LAURIN and ALAN MULDER, citizens of Canada, appeared on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute ecstasy. They are currently detained. If convicted of these charges, they each face possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and could be sentenced to life, a $4,000,000 fine and 5 years supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Seykora is the prosecutor for the United States. The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and the Montana Highway Patrol.
The defendants pled not guilty to the charges.
The charge, an indictment, information or complaint, is merely an accusation and all persons named as defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial conference and a trial date will be set and the United States will be required to prove the allegations set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.
