U.S. man gets 15 years for attempting to smuggle drugs into Canada

A failed plot to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and fentanyl across the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Canada has landed a U.S. man 15 years in prison.

In 2021, duffel bags containing roughly 180 kg of meth and almost a kilogram of fentanyl washed up on a beach near Port Angeles in Washington state.

U.S. authorities said the drugs were bound for Vancouver Island.

“It was certainly one of the larger seizures we’ve seen in a single event,” Vince Lombardi, assistant United States attorney, told Global News.

Prosecutors said that U.S. citizen John Michael Sherwood planned to tow the drugs across the Strait of Juan de Fuca using an inflatable raft pulled by a jet ski.

“It’s got a very low observability; it might not show up on radar if someone is out there,” Lombardi said.

“It’s not uncommon. It’s obviously subject to complications.”

In this case, the plan fell apart and the drugs washed ashore where beachgoers found them.

“The behaviour of the smuggler was pretty inept; you have to assume that he’s just a pawn,” Yvon Dandurand, a professor emeritus in criminology at the University of the Fraser Valley, said.

Surveillance video captured Sherwood buying duffel bags and boating supplies while text messages, cellphone data and RCMP surveillance helped investigators piece together the cross-border plot.

Investigators also recovered a note referencing Canadian citizen Kevin Gartry and U.S. authorities have now charged him, alleging he was waiting to receive the shipment on southern Vancouver Island.

“The fact that some drugs were seized in this case is not going to change the picture completely,” Dandurand said. “The organizations are still there, the demand for the drug is still there.”

Prosecutors say traffickers often try to exploit the openness of the marine border.

“But we work hard to catch those folks and I think we’re pretty good at it,” Lombardi said.

Sherwood, 69, was sentenced to 15 years in U.S. federal prison.

Gartry remains in custody in Canada on an unrelated charge.