After being caught with 45 kilos of cocaine in Kansas, a former semi-pro hockey player who agreed to become a drug mule for organized crime to pay off a $60,000 sports betting debt could spend 70 months in a US prison.
Vincent Muller and Anne-Marie Dubé’s plan could have worked if they hadn’t been stopped on August 8, 2019, because they were following another car too closely.
Documents filed in court include The newspaper got a copy, which showed how this attempt to bring drugs into the country failed and how organized crime came to use mules to move drugs.
A few days before they were caught, the two had flown from Quebec to Los Angeles, where the 45 kilograms of cocaine were put in a rental car. Their goal was to get across the U.S. to New York.
There, other people were waiting for them with their valuable cargo, which could be sold for close to $2 million. After that, the drugs had to go across the border into Canada.
Several suspicions
But the Quebecers never got to where they were going because they quickly made the patroller who stopped them suspicious.
The officer had the car searched because they were very nervous, gave vague answers about where they were going, had three cell phones, and threw away a lot of food. A drug-sniffing dog told the officer that drugs were nearby, so they were arrested.
“Cars like this are common for drug dealers because they don’t stop often and move quickly across the country. […] They often use disposable phones (called “burner phones”),” One writes in a document, referring to the police officer’s testimony.
Pay off bills
Vincent Muller was asked to be a mule because he owed a lot of money. After he stopped playing hockey, the former strongman’s bad luck began when his “desire to compete” led him to start betting on sports. But he had a “serious problem” that led to him owing $60,000.
Court documents say that the 36-year-old met a person named “Pete” at an unknown time. “[Il lui] said he could make enough money moving drugs from one place to another to pay off his gambling debts,” Muller’s lawyer wrote in a statement.
The second person would have agreed to make only two trips to pay what he owed. Then, Vincent Muller would have asked Anne-Marie Dubé to go on this journey with him. The young woman was to get money, especially since she was the one who was supposed to be driving.
The two people from Quebec who were charged with having cocaine with the intent to sell it pleaded guilty. They tried to argue that what they did was against the law, but they didn’t succeed.
” Pawns “
A joint suggestion of 50 months in prison was made, but Muller was given 70 months in prison instead. He tried to change the sentence. Dubé hasn’t been given his sentence yet.
“[Les mules] are just examples of people who are used as pawns to do the dirty work and take all the risks,” the Quebecer’s lawyer said, trying to downplay his level of involvement.
When the man, who is now 36, was arrested, our Bureau of Investigation said that he had done business with the Hells Angels. But the documents don’t say which group he was carrying the cocaine for.
– Alongside Andrea Valeria
LA and Quebec
Vincent Muller and Anne-Marie Dubé left Quebec on August 5, 2019, to take a flight to Los Angeles, California. When they get there, they rent a car and put the 45 kilos of cocaine in it.
New York in LA
The plan was for the two of them to travel the almost 2,500 miles (4,000 km) between Los Angeles and New York. People were waiting to get the drugs from them.
Arrested in Kansas
The two Quebecers were stopped on I-70 in Kansas, near Topeka, in the county of Wabaunsee. The police officer became suspicious of them because they were nervous and their plans didn’t make sense. He then searched their car. After that, the drugs were found.
From New York to Canada
The last step, getting the drugs across the Canadian border, was taken care of by the people who brought them into the country.
