Motor oil in her van didn't contain heroin after all
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BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image
Janet Goodin, of Warroad, Minn., was strip-searched and jailed on mistaken suspicion of drug offences when she crossed into Canada at Sprague.
Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews said this afternoon that he has requested a report from the president of the Canada Border Services Agency into the arrest in April of Janet Goodin.
Journal excerpts from an alleged 66-year-old heroin trafficker
Before the arrest
"I stood on the curb and watched as they unloaded everything from the van. I kept looking at the time on my cellphone, hoping they would hurry so I would not be late meeting my daughters. As I stood and watched, they pulled out a small canning jar of what I assumed to be motor oil left over from an oil change. They asked me what it was and handed the jar to me. I replied that I supposed it was engine oil, and I tried to remove the lid so that I could show them. The seal was too tight and I could not open it, so I handed it back. One of the men searching the van then handed it to one of the female border workers that had come out of the building. I thought probably they were going to dump it out or just confiscate it because the jar was not labelled."Motor oil or heroin?
"One of the female agents said that they tested the 'substance' in the canning jar and it tested positive for something. I understood her to say that the oil in the jar tested positive for some substance which indicated the presence of HEROIN!Thus, my nightmare began.
The border agent informed me that I was going to be arrested... I asked if I could call my daughter and let her know what was happening, and they refused to let me call her. They handcuffed me, and the rest of the night is a nightmarish blur of being interrogated several times by different people, the utter humiliation of a strip search, and long periods of sitting alone in that little room."
In jail
"The days have all been pretty much running together. During the day, we are to have every other hour out in the common area, unless it is mealtime or medication time, or there is some other reason to cut the hour short. Mealtime consists of picking up a covered tray and eating in the cells. There is a lot of food, and some of the women say they have gained weight while there. There is very little exercise; occasionally one tier or the other will be allowed to go to the gym for recreation. There is a stationary bike, several exercise machines and a ping-pong table in the gym."I have not been able to properly clean my dentures since I got here. I have asked several times for cleaner; I was told to ask the nurse. I asked the nurse, and she said they don't provide that, and it is not available through the canteen either. They finally wrote up a form to leave at the main office giving me permission to have my daughter bring some for me. The girl that came in yesterday is going home today, along with one of the other girls. I wonder if and when I will ever get to be with my family again."
-- Janet Goodin
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She was strip-searched by border guards, then turned over to RCMP, who charged her with three trafficking-related offences. Goodin spent 12 days in jail before a more thorough analysis by the RCMP revealed the jar did not contain heroin. The charges were eventually dropped.
"Whether there were any errors or changes that need to be made, I'll have to wait until I receive a full report," Toews said.
Toews would not comment on whether the Canadian government would issue an apology to Goodin.
"Whatever actions are appropriate, either CSBA or the government will take," he said.
Goodin said she was heading from her home in Warroad, Minn., to Sprague, Man., to play bingo on April 20 when Canadian border guards at the Sprague port of entry started searching her van and, in a cubby, found a canning jar containing brownish liquid. Sprague is about 30 kilometres northwest of Warroad, which is about 200 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.
Goodin, who retired after working as an administrative assistant for organizations like Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., said she was shocked after the jar of what she thought was motor oil tested positive for drugs. She said she was handcuffed, interrogated and jailed.
"It was so surreal and so out of context that I just couldn't believe what was happening," she said.
"I have never been so humiliated in my life."
REST AT LINK: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/border-bust-humiliates-senior-126160118.html
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