It was a mistake borne of desperation, the court heard Thursday from a man charged with drug trafficking.
“My life is in friggin’ shambles,” Dustin Forbes, 31, told police officers in a videotaped interview, when they asked him why he had agreed to transport a cardboard box containing nine pounds of marijuana, just over a pound of cocaine and 250 Percocet tablets.
Forbes said his fiancée had recently been seriously ill in a coma, neither of them had worked in a month and they needed to pay rent.
“I made a mistake. That’s all I can say.”
The video of the interview was played in provincial court in St. John’s Thursday at the trial of Forbes and co-accused Frederick Charles Walsh, 45. The men are facing three counts each of trafficking drugs and possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
Const. Chris Green, a drug investigator with the RNC/RCMP’s joint special enforcement unit, was on the stand Thursday and testified the two accused had been particularly co-operative with police, not something investigators often see, he said.
Forbes and Walsh were charged in June 2015 after police conducted a controlled delivery of the box of drugs. Having intercepted the package, which was addressed to Walsh at his home address in C.B.S., police delivered it to Walsh, who reportedly signed for it. Forbes allegedly arrived at the home shortly after and picked up the box. Police say they arrested him as he was leaving with it in the trunk of his vehicle.
A video of Walsh’s interview with police was also played in court. He told Green and another officer he had agreed to accept the package at his address, but didn’t know there were drugs inside.
“I was offered a couple hundred bucks to receive a package from a couple fellas. The package was supposed to be high-performance computer chips,” he said.
“I was told not to open the box. I wanted to, it was killing me, but I was told not to because the computer chips were delicate and if they were damaged I’d have to pay for them. I mustn’t have been the sharpest tool.”
Walsh told officers he didn’t know Forbes, with whom he first had contact when Forbes called to say he was on his way to pick up the parcel.
In his interview with police, Forbes said he was offered money as well.
“I was paid something to go get something and bring it somewhere,” he told the officers. When asked if he knew what the box contained, he said, “Definitely not.”
“I was told don’t open it, don’t do anything to it,” he said, adding he figured there was something illegal inside and assumed it was marijuana.
Under questioning by defence lawyers Erin Breen and Jeff Brace, Green said the men had provided police with quite a bit of information when interviewed.
“Did you believe Mr. Walsh?” Breen asked.
“Yes, I did,” Green answered.
When Breen asked if he was surprised Walsh was charged, Green said no, since he had accepted the package.
Green said to the best of his knowledge, investigators didn’t attempt to corroborate Walsh’s information, and didn’t track the cellphone of the person who had contacted Walsh to arrange the delivery of the package.
The trial continues Friday.
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Twitter: @tara_bradbury
