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20 years

Canadian man sentenced to nearly 9 years in Costa Rica prison for growing, distributing marijuana

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December 14th, 2015 (ICR News) A criminal court in Perez Zeledon in southern Costa Rica sentenced late last week a Canadian man to eight years and nine months in prison for growing and distributing marijuana.

 

David Best West, 43 was sentenced to eight years for the drug trafficking charge, an additional six months for disobeying authority and another three months for invading an environmentally protected area.

 

West was arrested during a raid on a three-hectare property in San Gerardo de Rivas in Perez Zeledon in April 2013 after police seized some 300 marijuana plants discovered in an indoor growing facility.

 

Authorities began investigating West in December 2012 after receiving an anonymous tip.

 

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  • James Burtnett

    Throwing people in jail for a PLANT is a CRIME in itself!

  • prdatki

    Solis and his friends fly every where on CR money and that is not a crime?Marijuana should be legalized and Taxed, politicians and clergy should be audited.

  • tab ricci

    Tab Ricci is probably the largest grower in Central Valley and supplier of the finest smoke! ( at least I’m not out of business yet ha ha)
    I am Tab Ricci and I approve this message

    • disgusted

      Can I put my order in?

    • Buffalo Bill

      Tab? Is this really Patrick? 5 ft 7 -stocky and long straight blonde hair who keeps Jaco Jumpin’ and smokin’ ?

      Great Product Bro!

  • SarongGoddess

    Wow people put guns to four-year-old babies heads and Allman invasions and they’re not even you know sought after the criminal isn’t even sought after or people murdered people and it takes years to get a conviction and then they get less cry time then what this guy got if they even find the person which many that I have known that were murdered here they didn’t even find the person and the scribe and the scene was so botched up that if they did find the person they had to let them go for murder I personally am not into drugs nor ever have been but I definitely think pot should be legalized text and controlled because it sure as hell is better for your body that alcohol is and trust me I will bet that the majority of those in power it consume out

  • Ken Morris

    I bet this guy was unpleasantly surprised. Who would have thunk that a court would sentence a pot grower to this kind of time?

    Reading between the lines, the fellow seems to have really annoyed the authorities, probably an attitude thing though possibly suspicions that he was involved in far worse. Reading still further between the lines, if he’s got any money left he’ll probably prevail on an appeal and get the whole thing settled in half or a third the time.

    However, at the moment his goose is really cooked. Funny how law enforcement works. Every once in awhile people who break laws get punished.

    • toolman78

      It wouldn’t surprise me if this guy might carry some of the blame for this harsh sentence. I know of a case where a foreigner got caught doing something that normally only results in mild penalties and ended up with a serious legal battle. Why? The guy couldn’t help but constantly act like an arrogant and condescending prick around everyone from his own lawyer to the judge.

      It’s a strange attitude that is pretty common among expats. It’s best to play nice with people who are in a position to seriously mess with your life. But for some strange reason some people feel the need to tell the Ticos about how CR is sooo messed up, even though they chose to leave their own country to live here.

    • SDPUS

      “Every once in awhile people who break laws get punished”…when it is a crime like this, it happens a little more than once in a while. The system realizes there may be a way for financial gain, so these type of arrests are encouraged and sought after. Low risk for the cops, with the possibility of a “high” reward.

      • Ken Morris

        I understand your concerns about corruption, and share them, but I think we should wait for evidence of extortion before we assume that prosecutors, lawyers, and judges are on the take in any given case.

        Also, just guessing, I would suspect that this Canadian isn’t rich enough to extort. 300 pot plants isn’t a ton of money wholesale, and these plants were confiscated. Judging from the guy’s age, I would also suspect that he doesn’t have pension or similar income, but is one of those premature expats who needs to make a buck here to support himself. Not least, while again I wouldn’t know, a guy who grows pot on public land probably isn’t hooked up well with organized crime. He’s more likely to have been an independent entrepreneur than connected to real money.

        I do myself wonder whether cops prefer to bust pot growers and the like over more dangerous criminals, simply because it’s safer. Heck, I would if I were a cop. Who wants to get shot at when you can get your arrest numbers up busting a docile pot grower?

        Oh, my recollection is that Costa Rica is considering a law to allow state confiscation of property in cases like this, but the law hasn’t passed yet. I could be wrong, but I think this is the status. The state though confiscates the property, and while it may be stolen by officials after it’s confiscated, that’s in house corruption.

  • disgusted

    The other article about the 100 pounds of Cocaine and a police officer too boot. How it seems to work here he will get 6 months maybe and claimed he was forced to do this by the cartel. The expat get 6 years. What a waste let him go and send him out of here. Marhiuana should be allowed and grown by anyone with out the government interference. Or make it legal and tax it shaboom! more money for the government to to steal.

  • Chris Thomas

    What an idiot he should have gone to Colorado where he can do it legally on the other hand this a double standard by the CR politicians there are cases where criminals are caught 30 times and then release and they are still on on the street stealing and dealing drugs. Ticos have no balance or sense of fairness they are either too strict or too lenient they have no fairness wage at all.

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