Pubdate: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Ethan Baron, The Province U.S. CUSTOMS AGENT RELEASED ON BAIL Man Accused of Taking Money, Sex for Allowing Drugs to Cross Is Back in Surrey A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer accused of taking money and sex in exchange for allowing drugs into the U.S. was released on bail in the States yesterday and returned to his home in Surrey. Desmone Bastian, 30, is an American but lives in Surrey with his Canadian wife and their 11-month-old child. "His world's kind of upside down," said Bastian's Seattle lawyer, Michael Nance. "It wouldn't be normal if he wasn't upset." Bastian is charged with taking a bribe and with smuggling about 100 kilograms of marijuana across the border from Canada into the U.S. in February 2005. The woman who allegedly provided the sex-for-smuggling was a prostitute. "It's not like he had to drive the truck," said U.S. Attorney's office spokeswoman Emily Langlie. "He aided and abetted the importation from a place outside the U.S." Bastian pleaded not guilty Oct. 26. He denies any knowledge of the marijuana shipment, and as for the charge of aiding smuggling in exchange for sex and money, "he denies that there was any quid pro quo, that he was doing stuff for pay," Nance said. At a detention hearing Tuesday, further information emerged about how the investigation developed. Bastian first came to the attention of authorities in March when a woman was caught trying to cross the border into the U.S. at the Pacific Highway crossing carrying 3,000 pills of OxyContin, an addictive opiate painkiller often sold as a street drug. Bastian left his post at another checkpoint lane and walked over to where the woman was being detained, in an apparent effort to intervene, Langlie said. Agents discovered Bastian's phone number on the woman's cellphone. "He admitted knowing her, but said she called him out of the blue," Langlie said. Phone records showed additional calls between the two. The federal probe also found the woman had made multiple border crossings over the previous two years, and had gone through Bastian's lane six or seven times while he was on duty, without being sent for a secondary check. The woman pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs and told investigators she was a prostitute who owned an escort business. She said Bastian had entered her business in uniform, and talked to her alone and in front of others about border security. She said she had smuggled ecstasy and pot as well as OxyContin, and once met Bastian at a Shell gas station in Blaine for a sexual encounter after she made a drug run, Langlie said. Bastian is charged only in relation to the pot shipment last Feb. 25. "[He] failed to inspect vehicles and persons entering the United States and failed to prevent the introduction of contraband into the United States," the Oct. 25 indictment reads. The amount of money he's alleged to have accepted has not yet been made public. It's "always possible" that Bastian will be charged with additional offences, Langlie said. In court Tuesday, a federal judge ruled Bastian could return to Surrey pending trial if he posted a $20,000 US bond and handed over his passport. Canadian authorities will supervise him in B.C., and he is prohibited from travelling beyond Surrey or western Washington. Bastian faces five to 40 years in prison on the smuggling charge, and up to 15 years on the bribery charge. "It seems to me that this is based on circumstantial evidence, plus the word of this woman that has every reason to point a finger of blame to divert it from herself," Nance said. Bastian's trial is set for Jan. 2. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine