Motorist who crossed Peace Bridge claimed she had no idea she was smuggling arsenal of weapons
A Chicago woman who crossed the Peace Bridge into Fort Erie with 11 guns stashed inside a car said in court Friday she had no idea she was smuggling an arsenal of weapons across the border.
Natasha Wolley, 28, was fined $100 after she pleaded guilty in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines to attempting to evade compliance with the Customs Act.
In April 2019, court heard, Wolley entered Fort Erie at the Peace Bridge and told a Canada Border Services Agency officer she was on her way to Toronto to attend a bridal shower.
She was referred to secondary inspection, where a search of the vehicle uncovered numerous firearms stashed in a hidden compartment inside the car. In total, 11 firearms and five ammunition magazines were seized.
Defence lawyer V.J. Singh said his client had borrowed the vehicle and left it unattended for a short period of time prior to crossing the border.
She was willfully blind," he told the judge.
Crown attorney David King, who withdrew criminal charges against the woman, said there was no evidence to suggest she knew there were guns in the car.
The Fort Erie incident was associated with a U.S. investigation that saw 11 men from Ohio convicted in November of conspiring to smuggle more than 200 firearms into Canada between 2018 and 2019.
Our investigators have been in touch with the investigators down there, and there is no evidence Ms. Wolley knew anything," King said. She truly was person who drove a car without knowing what was in it."
Defendants in the U.S. matter received prison sentences in the range between one and six years.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the men would recruit female drivers to smuggle the weapons across the border with promises of a free trip to Canada, payment, or access to drugs and alcohol.
Ten of the smuggled guns have been directly traced to crimes in Canada.
Alison Langley is a St. Catharines-based reporter for the Niagara Falls Review. Reach her via email: alison.langley@niagaradailies.com