US tourist jailed for 6½ yrs for smuggling trace of fentanyl
(CNS): In the first successful prosecution of an individual for smuggling the highly addictive and dangerous opioid fentanyl into the Cayman Islands, a US national was given a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence in court Tuesday. Adrian Frederick Scales (27) was convicted of importing 0.09 grams of fentanyl in Summary Court last summer. Scales was travelling to Cayman as a tourist when he was caught with a trace of the powder in his backpack. Although a very small amount, given the potency of the drug, it could still be fatal.
Scales denied the importation charge but made no comment at the time of his arrest. During the trial, he claimed that he was unaware he was in possession of the drug because he had loaned the bag to someone else before travelling. The magistrate did not believe Scales, who did not make the claim until he appeared in court.
Because there are no precedent cases here and this jurisdiction has very limited experience dealing with fentanyl, prior to sentencing, the courts consulted with US authorities about its potency and dangers.
Very few arrests have been made in connection with this drug to date. However, Customs and Border Control has said that its officers are now finding and seizing the drug at the airport, and CBS Director Charles Clifford has said the Class A narcotic is giving cause for concern. While the drug is by no means commonly smuggled here yet, it is something CBC is paying close attention to, he said.
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I wonder if this is going to be a Brittany Grimes or Skylar crime reporting in the US?
Who loans a backpack?
A twenty-something year old who is friends or roommates with others who travel. It’s really not that far-fetched.
He won’t lend it again,Bobo.
Didn’t fly with the judge though.
What an awful sentence. Do people not realize that all sorts of traces of drugs can be “found” on things??
Yeah, my bags are positively caked in meth, coke, and fentanyl!
This was deliberate, stop being a muppet.
Too many people including kids get accidentally exposed to fentanyl. So getting traces of it on your stuff is not an impossibility.
US child dies from fentanyl kept under nursery nap mat
Nicholas Dominici, 1, died on Friday and three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan and are now recovering, police said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66861588
But his bag wasn’t “absolutely caked” now, was it.0.09 grams. Do you have any idea how small an amount that is? That is 9 milligrams. A teaspoon is 5000 milligrams.
and it says in the article that 0.09 grams can be fatal. So still a big deal no?
Fentanyl is potentially lethal at 2mg (think 15 grains of salt), so .09 grams (90mg) is enough to kill ~45 people.
0.09g is actually 90mg, NOT 9
Great comment 9.35.
The law should be changed to add a fine in the amount which it will cost Cayman to feed and house an unwelcome intruder.
When he is released he goes home a free man, when a Caymanian is paroled he has to serve the balance of his sentence “under license.”
Still not a free man.
A Visitor had a trace of the powder is the backpack? Guilty as hell.
A Caymanian had a gun in his car. Not guilty. No proof that the gun was his.
An American visitor violates coronavirus restrictions. Guilty as hell. Prison time.
Caymanians who violated coronavirus restrictions were never prosecuted.
Importation of fentanyl is a serious crime. But in this case?
This is a gross misrepresentation of the actual facts, all in a piss-poor attempt to make Cayman look bad.
Caymanians were prosecuted for covid restrictions. In fact, the “high-profile” case (for lack of a better term) was a Caymanian and an American couple, both convicted.
One Caymanian was found not guilty of a gun being on the driver’s side of a car, driven by someone else, who admitted that the gun was theirs. There was no DNA linking the non-shooter to the gun, other than it was in their vehicle. You search your friends every time they get in your car?
Caymanians are prosecuted for drug possession often. Are you not aware of Kenneth Bryan being convicted? It is often touted by the same badmind leeches like you as an embarrassment for Cayman that he did his time and now represents the country.
Honestly, you fools need to pick an argument and stick with it. Is it that Caymanians don’t get in trouble, or that we are all trouble, and that’s why our cause lists are filled with local names? I particularly like when morons throw that one around, as though it’s some mic drop moment and that it isn’t the same situation literally everywhere else in the world. Local cause lists filled with local surnames? SHOCKER.
But yeah, you’re right – we should let off the immigrant death dealer because… he’s not Caymanian? What exactly is your backwards-ass argument again? It takes 2mg of fentanyl to be lethal – he smuggled 90mg with him internationally. He deserves to go to prison, and it should be for a significant amount of time to set precedent. The only issue anyone should have with that is that the people of Cayman now have to pay to house and feed yet another imported criminal.
It was 9 mg not 90, and no suggestion it was in a retail able form like concentrated powder or pill – “trace elements”. Charged with possession, not dealing. Don’t disagree with your other comments, but you cat complain about others distorting the facts and you then just multiply the amount by a factor of 10 and suggest its smuggling when there is nothing to suggest that in the article or the prosecution.
BTW – Kenny is not a great example of Caymanians being punished. He was dealing tried to sell to an undercover cop – not simple possession. And as for “done his time” – FFS; he got 6 months for dealing a class A drug! So yeah, it is an embarrassment that a man who used to deal Class A narcotics is representing his country, and there is no way that sentence represents anything near what he would have got in a different jurisdiction. .
https://www.google.com/search?q=0.09+grams+to+milligrams
You don’t have to agree with any of it, but that doesn’t make it false.
“no suggestion it was in a retail able form like concentrated powder or pill – ‘trace elements’.” yeah, it was for personal consumption right? 😂 And if it were, that’s okay since he’s not from here?
Kenny was used particularly because of his circumstances and immigrants’ familiarity with him. He was a low-level street pusher, not an international smuggler. Tell me, what he was caught with on his person again? I’m having a hard time remembering if it was enough to kill 45 people? Or are you one of those in denial that fentanyl is being used worldwide for more than “good vibes only”?
It’s 6 times the sentence Kenny got , and he was selling locally..!
Different substance, and if you think local small-time pushers get the same punishment as international smugglers anywhere in the world, I’ve got news for you.
Thoughts on a non-Caymanian who imports multiple firearms to Cayman, where it is illegal to posses/own firearms outside very limited circumstances? Don’t look for a local boogeyman here, there’s tons of local prosecutions.
*crickets*
Fentanyl is very dangerous and requires harsh sentencing for those convicted of importation.
Whilst 6 1/2 years seems a lot, prison years are 8 months. So, he might be looking at about 4.33 years. Maybe less for good behavior.
The bad part, however, is that a non-Caymanian, who has been convicted of this crime in the Cayman Islands, is funded by our public purse.
Ok good! We already have a crack epidemic in west bay, we don’t need to re-hook a whole new generation.
deport him…why must cayman taxpayers pay for his time for next 3/4 years?
Because then he goes free, fool.
Good job, we do not need his kind nor his drugs.
Idiot.
Favorite drug of our US and Canadian ‘friends’. Their usual haunts along SMB are riddled with it and other treats.
Yet the amount of people on these islands that blame the “English” (read: British).
The Canadians are the worst thing that ever happened to these beloved islands.
@3:58: why do you say that? I have met a few Canadians and they seemed cool.
Ageed
Seems you know a lot. So go and report your “facts” to the popo.
Everybody knows. Ask yourself why they aren’t touched or harassed or face the hostile environment?
Likely he was dealing this poison before he set foot here. It sets a high bar for punishment. However, relative to some of the local crime sentencing the comparative disparity in sentencing is astounding when one can murder someone with a vehicle and face get 5-1/2 years, or be out in 3 years with satisfactory behaviour.
Fentanyl is surely a dangerous drug and can kill. So are guns! So, it’ll be interesting to see the final outcome of the current ongoing case against Russian / Israeli / Canadian male charged with illegal importation of 3 guns and ammunition.
Ah yes. The “illegal” importation case where the judge has already suggested that the prosecution reconsider whether the law has even been broken.
The guy read the law and followed it. I think the real point here is that even if he didn’t break the law in the way he brought the guns in, there should be no way he’d ever be granted a licence for those weapons, in particular an assault rifle.
an attorney made a very specific interpretation of the law, in order to benefit their client. That is all that took place here.
Not an assault rifle – nor would anyone ever get a licence for one. And he wouldn’t get a licence anyway, not being a member of the Cayman gun club, not that he would realise that being a newbie and thinking it was just the law that applied. .
Adrian experienced the Scales of Justice.
Idiot needs to do minimum of 5 years, then deport never to come back. Scum.
Where was this guy from in the US?
Does it matter?
Good. Fine him in the amount it cost Cayman to try, convict and house/feed him.