THIRD STRIKE FOR TEEN DRUG SMUGGLER

Winnie Lam, 19, had two close calls with law enforcement but continued
smuggling drugs from Vancouver to Seattle and is now headed to jail for 8 years

Ian Austin The Province

A Vancouver teenager who couldn't break her drug-smuggling habit despite
two clear warnings has been sentenced to eight years in a U.S. jail.

Winnie Lam, 19, who became addicted to a high-flying lifestyle, was
sentenced to 97 months in jail as the ringleader of an operation smuggling
ecstasy from Vancouver to Seattle.

U.S. District Court documents reveal that investigators "were impressed
with her industriousness and capability."

"Unfortunately, she put all of this to work for the wrong reason.

"As to why she did what she did, the government believes it was because of
what it brought her -- popularity, friends and lots of money."

Lam, who U.S. officials believe worked with nine accomplices aged 18 to 31
to smuggle 80,000 ecstasy pills south of the border, apparently got used to
living the high life in Seattle.

"At the time of her arrest, she was carrying expensive Louis Vuitton bags,
which were seized from her," according to court documents.

"Records recovered from the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle indicate that
Lam spent more than $10,000 at the hotel over a two-month period.

"Louis Vuitton's is across the street."

U.S. District Judge James Robart, who ordered that Lam be subject to three
years of supervised release once she serves her time, heard a tale of an
ambitious young woman who was twice warned before the third time turned
unlucky.

"She was completely undeterred by her own arrest and detection by law
enforcement," read the documents.

Lam's first run-in with U.S. authorities came in March 2003, when they came
upon a package sent to her containing more than $12,000 (all figures in
U.S. dollars).

"Over a series of calls, Lam told a series of lies to law enforcement
officers about why [an accomplice] was sending her this money," the
documents say.

"Ultimately, officers decided that there was not enough basis to seize this
money from her, and so it was returned.

"Rather than read this event as a close call, Lam simply resumed her
illegal activities."

Run-in No. 2 came on Dec. 19 when she arrived at the U.S. border --
travelling with a false passport in the name of Ashley Shaw -- and
authorities seized $40,000 worth of marijuana. Charged with trafficking and
released on bond, she was soon back to her old ways.

"Again, she did not stop," court documents show. "On April 21, 2004, she
was apprehended entering the United States at Sea-Tac Airport."

This time Lam was travelling under a false passport in the name of Natasha
Neale, and the odds finally caught up to her.

"A search of her person uncovered two bags of MDMA [ecstasy], one in her
bra, and one in her panties, totalling 1,000 pills, with a street value in
excess of $10,000."

Lam -- who told authorities she netted $75,000 in her two-year crime spree
- -- arrived at her first court appearance in April dressed in haute couture,
but was clad in prison blues at her sentencing hearing on Monday.

Seven of Lam's underlings -- all Seattle-area residents -- have already
been sentenced for their parts in the smuggling ring.

In sentencing Lam, Robart told her how "personally sorry I have felt for
the people you've involved in this . . . as I've been forced to sentence
literally clueless young people who became involved in your organization."

As Lam was led away from court by U.S. deputy marshals, she called out
through tears to her mother, father, brother and boyfriend:

"Don't worry. I'll be OK. I love you."