Police seized more than 1.5 million contraband cigarettes, sentencing hearing told
Client: James Hugo Keller, Dorel Peter Magureanu
Charge: Fraud
Two Calgary men caught with more than 1.5 million contraband cigarettes have been barred from Ontario and Quebec First Nations as part of their conditional sentence orders.
James Hugo Keller, 74, and Dorel Peter Magureanu, 68, pleaded guilty Monday to fraud and the illegal selling of tobacco products in connection with April 30, 2019 raids on Keller’s southeast Calgary home as well as two storage units and two vehicles.
Crown prosecutor Zailin Lakhoo told provincial court Judge Greg Stirling the two men were the subject of an interprovincial investigation that included members of the Tobacco Enforcement Unit of the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission.
With the assistance of the Calgary Police Service, the members of the unit executed search warrants of Keller’s Rouleau Cres. S.E. residence, storage units at an Inglewood facility and the men’s vehicles, Lakhoo said.
The investigation “revealed that the accused Keller and Magureanu were involved in large scale sale of illegal tobacco products evading taxes,” the prosecutor said.
She told Stirling “large amounts of illegal product” were found at the five sites searched by the investigators.
Officers seized 7,752 cartons of cigarettes, 157 packages of 20 smokes, 42 of 25 cigarettes along with 145 single ones and 10,000 grams of loose tobacco.
Lakhoo and defence lawyers Alain Hepner and Adriano Iovinelli proposed a joint sentence for each offender of conditional terms of two years less a day to be served in the community.
Magureanu, who had a prior conviction, was also ordered to pay a $60,000 fine.
Lakhoo said the contraband had a street value in excess of $300,000 and the provincial and federal taxes evaded were more than $400,000.
A condition of their sentences is that both men are banned from attending within 10 kilometres of First Nations in Ontario and Quebec.
Magureanu must serve the first year of his term under house arrest, while Keller has to serve eight months under home lockdown.
Similar charges against Keller’s wife, Salve Ponado Avila, were withdrawn.
Source: Calgary Herald