BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced to a year in jail for trying to smuggle cigarettes into Canada.

The Bellingham Herald reports Jonathan H.Fletcher was found guilty in a Surrey, British Columbia, court in February and sentenced to jail Tuesday and ordered to pay a $16,000 fine.

The Vancouver, B.C., resident worked at the Point Roberts port of entry. He was fired after he was caught in March 2005 returning to Canada from Blaine with 22 cartons of undeclared cigarettes in his trunk.

Investigators say he had smuggled cigarettes 54 times over two years.

 

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