Former Customs Agent Found Guilty of Taking Bribes

ACQUITTED OF SEVEN OTHER CHARGES !!!!!!


Customs agent Nancy Cedeno smiled as she left a Montreal courtroom after learning she was only convicted of accepting bribes to help drug smugglers with ties to the Mafia.
The expression on her face appeared to be an acknowledgement that she realized things could have turned out a lot worse.
Quebec Court Judge Claude Millette acquitted Cedeno of seven other charges, including the more serious charges alleging that she took part in a conspiracy or committed her crime for the profit of a criminal organization. A conviction on the latter charge could have extended the length of whatever sentence she receives for accepting bribes.
"I don't know. I hope so," was all Cedeno, 34, would tell reporters when she was asked if she hoped to avoid prison time. Sentencing arguments in her case are scheduled for February. Prosecutor Alexandre Dalmau said it was too early to speculate on what sentence he will seek. Cedeno's lawyer, Robert Bellefeuille, said he will ask for a suspended sentence.
After Millette rendered his verdict Dalmau acknowledge that during Project Colisée, an extensive police investigation into the Montreal Mafia, the RCMP only had evidence that Cedeno collaborated with Omar Riahi, 33, a former fellow Canada Border Services Agency agent, while he helped two drug smugglers in their efforts to smuggle large amounts of cocaine through Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. The smugglers used drug mules who carried several kilograms of cocaine in luggage off flights from the Caribbean.
Cedeno let Riahi have access to her CBSA-issue stamp which would allow the drug couriers to switch their actual customs declaration form to a prestamped and coded one that would help get them through the airport without being searched.
Earlier this year, Riahi pleaded guilty to conspiracy, corruption and two counts of committing a crime for the profit of a criminal organization. He worked as a customs agent in 2003 and 2004 and was working in Halifax as a military police officer while he helped two men, with alleged ties to the Mafia, smuggle cocaine.
During her trial Cedeno testified it was Riahi who organized everything involving her end. There were also wiretaps that clearly showed Riahi didn't want the men he was helping to know her identity, likely because he would be cut out as the middleman.
Sentencing arguments in Riahi's case begin Oct. 28. Dalmau has already informed Millette that he will seek a 10-year sentence for Riahi.
Cedeno, the mother of two young daughters, first met Riahi when both worked together at airport in 2004.
By the time she was arrested in 2006 she was on sick leave and was being treated for depression.
Millette also also delivered verdicts involving two other people who were used by the drug smugglers.
Julie Chateauneuf Fleury, 27, admitted during the same trial that she agreed to carry a suitcase for Ray Kanho, a man who has yet to be tried in Colisée. She pleaded guilty to taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine through the airport but she fought a charge alleging she did so for a criminal organization.
Millette acquitted her on the gangsterism charge.
Jean Marie Fritz Balmir, 39, was convicted of both conspiracy and committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal organization. Evidence was presented during the trial that he worked as a go-between for the drug smugglers and their couriers.

Source : The Montreal Gazette