United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SEATTLE - One of the leaders of a drug smuggling ring that moved loads of drugs across the northern border with Canada in devices ranging from helicopters to backpacks was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison.  Sean William Doak, 42 of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada was indicted in 2010, for his leadership of a cross border drug smuggling ring that operated from at least 2007-2009.  Doak was extradited to the U.S. in 2015, and pleaded guilty in December 2015 to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy.  At today’s sentencing U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik noted that the drugs trafficked by Doak’s organization damaged users and fed addiction across the U.S. and Canada.  The judge asked Doak how he could reconcile his position as a supportive family man, with the damage he had done to other families with his drug trafficking.

According to records filed in the case, Doak was operating his drug trafficking ring even as he was on work release for a drug sentence in Canada.  Doak and his co-conspirators arranged for loads of drugs to be smuggled across the United States/Canada border by truckers, hikers and snowmobilers, and increasingly towards the end of the charged conspiracy, by helicopters.  The MDMA and marijuana originated in Canada and was transported south into the United States; the cocaine was obtained in Southern California and transported into Canada.

At various times law enforcement seized large loads of drugs connected to the ring: 200,000 MDMA pills on March 6, 2008; 72 kilograms of cocaine seized on March 10, 2008; 83 kilograms of cocaine seized on February 21, 2009; 20 kilograms of cocaine seized on February 28, 2009; 420 pounds of marijuana seized on February 23, 2009; and 325 pounds of marijuana and 40,000 MDMA pills seized on March 5, 2009.

Other co-conspirators have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years in prison to 18 months in prison. 

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement (DEA) with assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted (RCMP) and the Utah Highway Patrol.