Man caught travelling with illegal cigarettes

A 24-year-old man from the U. S. side of Akwesasne, caught travelling on Hwy. 401 through Kingston shortly after 3 a. m. with a back seat full of illegal cigarettes, has been fined $11,050.
Matthew James Tarbell pleaded guilty in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice to violating the Excise Act by possessing cigarettes without stamps to indicate that excise tax had been paid and to obstructing police by identifying himself with his brother's name. 
Tarbell spent 13 days in jail before pleading guilty to the two offences and was ultimately sentenced to time served on the obstruction charge.
Federal Crown prosecutor David Crowe told Justice Rommel Masse that some erratic maneuvering on the highway, just west of the Division Street off-ramp on the morning of Oct. 16, initially attracted an officer's attention to the red Buick Tarbell was driving.
Tarbell disputes that claim but whatever first drew his attention to the car, Crowe told the judge the patrol officer subsequently noted its licence validation sticker had expired over a year earlier, on March 31, 2008. That gave him grounds to pull Tarbell over. 
Crowe said Tarbell, when asked to identify himself, gave a name and New York State address that was only later learned to belong to his brother. His female passenger also misidentified herself. 
While the officer was talking to Tarbell, however, Crowe said his attention was drawn to a pile of blankets and jackets in the back seat covering two large plastic bags. He told Masse that one of the plastic bags was torn and the officer could clearly see through the gap that it contained bags of loose cigarettes. He then arrested Tarbell for violating the Excise Act.
It was only while he was being booked on that charge, according to Crowe, that the lie underpinning his second offence was discovered. Tarbell was asked how old he was and responded to the booking sergeant that he was 23. The officer, however, looking at the birth date he'd provided, pointed out that it would have made him only 22. 
Masse was told that when Tarbell's cargo was tallied, he was found to be transporting the equivalent of six cases of cigarettes, or 30 cartons of 200 cigarettes each. Crowe said Tarbell later told the RCMP that he'd anticipated receiving about $50 a case for a total of $300. 
Ottawa lawyer Jeff Langevin, who represented Tarbell, told Masse that his client has no record and urged him "to be a bit creative here with your sentence."
Crowe, however, advised that this was not the first time Tarbell had been caught in Canada with a load of illegal smokes.
He was charged with the same thing in May, in Brockville, according to Crowe, and failed to show up for court there. 
Crowe told Masse that he wasn't seeking more than the minimum fine under the Act, but argued that Tarbell was flaunting Canadian law, observing that he "lives in another country and chooses to come here and commit crimes." 
In imposing the fine, Masse agreed that deterrence had to be a key component of his sentence. 
"There's only one reason anyone would have that many cigarettes," he told Tarbell, "and that's the black market."