OSOYOOS TIMES-July 1, 2009
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
A Kamloops-area woman who was stopped at the Osoyoos border crossing with 31 kilograms of cocaine has been sentenced to seven years in jail.
Debra L. Lynch, 31, pleaded guilty in Penticton provincial court on June 25 to charges of importation of a controlled substance and possession for the purposes of trafficking.
The charges are in relation to a May 5 bust at the border where police and Canada Border Services agents seized individually wrapped packages of cocaine hidden in a floor storage compartment in the 2005 Dodge Caravan Lynch was driving when she was trying to re-enter Canada.
The street value of the seizure is at least $1.5 million, police said.
Lynch was handed a seven-year prison sentence for each charge and they will be served concurrently.
She is also prohibited from owning firearms for 10 years and must provide the court with a DNA sample.
Lynch’s co-accused in the matter, 23-year-old Lee Louie Myers of Hanceville, B.C., pleaded guilty to the same charges on June 29.
He will next appear in court on Aug. 31 for a pre-sentencing report.
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