Pubdate: Sun, 16 Mar 2003
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2003 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Carol Sanders

ECUADOR HORROR FOR CITY FAMILY

Mom Fears Jailed Son Hired As Drug Mule By Local Recruiters

THE parents of a 23-year-old Winnipeg man being held in a nightmarish 
Ecuadorian prison say what happened to Joseph Stone-Lamontagne could happen 
to anyone.

The Sturgeon Creek graduate, who'd fallen on hard times, told his family 
he'd landed a job in the oil fields of Texas.

The next time they got word of him, he was in prison in Ecuador charged 
with trafficking cocaine. His family says the young man, who had never been 
in trouble before, didn't go to Texas but was recruited by traffickers to 
be a drug mule.

"What we want to do is let the rest of Winnipeg know these guys are right 
here in our very home town recruiting our kids," said his mother, Susan 
Stone-Lamontagne.

Her son, who was laid off from his job at a window and door installation 
company in Winnipeg, was no globe-trotting drug trafficker, said 
Stone-Lamontagne.

"He hasn't been anywhere -- he's just an average 23-year-old kid." She said 
he was able to get some casual work with the window and door company and 
lived with his girlfriend. They were three months behind on the rent on 
their Winnipeg apartment before he left the city, she said. But he wasn't a 
bad person, said Stone-Lamontagne.

"He's never even been in a real fist fight. He's family-oriented and has a 
ton of friends who are all really nice people."

She and her husband, Rick Stone-Lamontagne, were notified March 8 by the 
Canadian Consul in Ottawa that Joe had been arrested Feb. 25 for trying to 
leave Ecuador with half a kilogram of cocaine.

They were told it could take years for a duty counsel to be appointed to 
defend the young man, and that it will cost thousands to hire a lawyer 
there. They were also told that they had to pay prison officials $150 US a 
month to make sure he is fed and kept safe from other inmates.

"For his food, he gets a bowl of rice at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.," 
Stone-Lamontagne said.

The family, which has had no communication with Joe, paid the Canadian 
Consulate a $75 fee to send money to the consul in Ecuador to buy some 
books and writing material for him. "It was stolen from him at knife-point 
by other prisoners," Stone-Lamontagne said.

She said a staff member from the Canadian Consulate in Ecuador was supposed 
to visit Joe in prison yesterday.

The staff member was to deliver letters from his family and friends that 
had been faxed and e-mailed and to take him some chocolate bars for his low 
blood sugar.

"At this point, he doesn't even know his whole family and his friends are 
doing what they can to round up funds to pay for his safety," 
Stone-Lamontagne said.

Because Canada has no extradition treaty with Ecuador, there's no chance of 
him being brought home to Canada, she said.

The consulate is trying to have Joe moved out of the general population to 
a safer part of the prison, which is located in Guayaquil.

"They're trying to have him put in with the other foreigners."

Meanwhile, the family is trying to raise money to hire a lawyer and to keep 
Stone-Lamontagne fed and safe in prison. "It's not just Joseph who got 
caught," said his aunt, Barb Mailey. "It's happening in Winnipeg and all 
over Canada. Everybody needs to be aware." Mailey is helping to organize an 
April 19 fund-raising social for her sister's son.

"That's my nephew and I love him with all my heart and I'm determined to 
get him home. That's the kind of family we are -- in the worst-case 
scenario, everyone pulls together."

The social is being held at 7 p.m. at the Norquay Community Centre.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens