MAN EXTRADITED IN INTERNET DRUG CASE

A Victoria man has been extradited to the United States after the
Internet was used to deal drugs across the border.

Douglas James Sharples, 35, was sent to Newark, N.J., last Friday to
face a charge of importing 53 grams of crystal meth. The drug had been
mailed to an American undercover agent.

If found guilty, Sharples faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10
years and a maximum of life in prison. He had been in custody at
Wilkinson Road jail in Saanich since RCMP arrested him in February of
last year.

According to documents from the U.S. Department of Justice, a
confidential source began feeding information about a drug-sales
operation to the Newark field division of the United States Drug
Enforcement Administration in September 2004. The source provided an
e-mail he had received outlining ordering procedures and pricing for
pharmaceutical drugs, methamphetamine, GHB and ecstasy.

The DEA put a New Jersey undercover special agent on the case. The
agent says in his sworn information to the U.S. District Court in New
Jersey that he contacted a Victoria man by e-mail in November 2004,
requesting a list of drugs available. He received an e-mail similar to
the one provided by the source.

A month later, the source provided a new list with cocaine and LSD
added. The e-mail also indicated the man was ready to launch a
website. The site was accessible only with a password, said Const.
Kelly Mobbs of the RCMP Island District Drug Section.

The undercover agent spoke with the man by phone in May 2005, letting
him know he'd be ordering two ounces of crystal meth. He later sent
his request by e-mail.

The agent mailed two international money orders totalling $1,365, by
Federal Express. The RCMP was notified and the money orders
intercepted.

An undercover Mountie tried delivering them to the man's View Street
address, but he wasn't home. The officer left a note telling the man
to pick them up at a Federal Express facility. He did so later that
day.

By mid-June, the undercover agent received the first of two packages.
It contained 27 grams of 93 per cent pure crystal meth. A couple of
days later, a similar package was received.

The DEA obtained a fingerprint, and RCMP arrested Sharples at the end
of February 2006.

Using the Internet to sell drugs is an expanding problem, Mobbs said,
and it's only in its infancy. "It almost gives people anonymity. It's
not like you're standing downtown -- it's worldwide."

But Mark Perry, assistant professor of law and computer science at the
University of Western Ontario, doesn't see e-trafficking as a major
problem because it's easy to get caught.

"I don't think there's a lot of it," said the specialist in Internet
law. "It's quite dumb."