OTTAWA: A Canadian man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for smuggling marijuana and the club drug known as ecstasy into the United States, where it was sold by a Salem man, federal prosecutors announced.
David Nguyen, 40, of Toronto, was extradited from Canada two months ago, and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and MDMA. He was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper.
Prosecutors say that over the course of a two-year period between 2010 to 2012, Nguyen conspired to move the drugs across the border and get them to Joshua Rabinovitch, 28, of Salem. Rabinovitch would then sell the drugs and return the proceeds to Nguyen, prosecutors said.
Rabinovitch, who pleaded guilty last year to his role in the conspiracy, was sentenced to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was released from custody on Dec. 1, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Much of Rabinovitch’s case remains under seal and details of where he was selling the drugs were not disclosed.
But prosecutors say Nguyen and another Canadian, Gurshuran Singh, recruited couriers to drive the drugs across the border to Salem. Rabinovitch would then use others to send the proceeds back to Nguyen, prosecutors said.
In the spring of 2012, another co-defendant, Shivnder Kanwal, was recruited to drive 15 kilograms (more than 33 pounds) of MDMA into the United States, prosecutors said. The following month, another man, Adeel Bhutta, arrived in Salem to pick up $240,000 in proceeds from Rabinovitch, prosecutors said.
Bhutta was sentenced to 28 months in prison for his role; Singh and Kanwal are awaiting sentencing next year.
