POT CHARGES 'SHOCKING' TO ACCUSED'S FRIENDS

Marketing Whiz Kid, Fitness Entrepreneur Among Five Facing Marijuana Charges

How did Chris Neary, a Vancouver marketing whiz kid with a celebrity
trainer girlfriend, and Daryl Fontana, an Ironman triathlete and
fitness entrepreneur, end up being charged with carrying marijuana
across the U.S. border?

And apparently for a measly $10,000 each.

This question is being asked by friends of both men who knew them as
successful professionals with strong moral codes. Their friends'
shock isn't surprising.

People accused of carrying up to 50 kilograms of marijuana across the
porous B.C.-Washington state border usually don't include a former
director of marketing for Telus (Neary) or the owner of a Vancouver
Island fitness centre whose wife is president of the local chamber of
commerce (Fontana).

Both Neary and Fontana told federal agents that financial problems
drove them to make their ill-fated hike across the border, according
to court documents filed in U.S. District Court. None of the
statements has been proven in court.

Neary, Fontana and three other Vancouver residents -- Richard Bafaro,
Sinisa Gavric and Carl Thiessen -- were arrested on April 26 by
federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents near Glacier,
Wash., just below Mount Baker. Gavric told the agents he started
hiking with Neary and Fontana the night before after they had been
picked up near Broadway and Commercial in east Vancouver. Thiessen,
the driver, said he dropped them off in the Cultus Lake area near the
border, according to court documents.

The agents found four backpacks with clear plastic bags of marijuana.
The five men face charges of conspiracy to import marijuana,
conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession of marijuana with
intent to distribute. Thiessen is also charged with money laundering.

Neary, Fontana, and Thiessen have been released. The other two men
are still in custody. A trial date has been set for July 6 and all of
the accused have pleaded not guilty. The charges carry a maximum
sentence of 20 years and a $1-million fine, although the sentences
could be much less severe, depending on the defendants' criminal
history and role in the crime.

Neary moved from Britain in 2002 to become marketing strategist for
Telus. Known for his "off-the-grid" approach to advertising, Neary
became director of marketing for Telus in 2004, managing its
$30-million budget.

In 2006 Neary, who is in his mid-30s, opened his own Vancouver
advertising shop called Frank, telling Marketing Magazine that he
feared remaining at Telus "until I'm 50 and hanging around a
boardroom with middle-aged bald men with low sperm counts."

Neary has been dating personal trainer Nadeen Boman, whom he met in
2006 when he signed up for one of her fitness classes at the YMCA.

Boman is the trainer on Slice Network's The Last Ten Pounds Bootcamp
and Bulging Brides.

Fontana, known to his friends as "Corky," is the owner of and
"wellness coach" at The Playground, a fitness centre in Duncan. He
co-owns it with his wife, Candace, who is the president of the
Duncan-Cowichan Chamber of Commerce. They have three children.

Fontana, 37, finished the Penticton Ironman triathlon in 2008.

Court documents in U.S. District Court in Seattle say federal agents,
led by special agent Shannon Hanson, encountered Neary, Fontana,
Thiessen and Gavric while investigating an area of the Mount Baker
and Snoqualmie National Forest used frequently by smugglers and
illegal aliens to cross the border. The agents saw snowshoe tracks
the morning of April 26 and then found Neary and Fontana hiding in
the woods, according to a document signed by agent Hanson. They told
the agents they had been hiking in Canada, got lost and
unintentionally crossed the U.S. border.

As the agents talked to Neary and Fontana, an SUV driven by Thiessen
arrived on the scene. Thiessen told the agents he was a writer and
was looking for a secluded place to write. The agents searched
Thiessen's rental vehicle and found a deposit slip for $1,000 in
currency and an envelope containing $4,000 US. At about the same
time, the agents found Gavric hiding in the bush. Gavric, a Bosnian
immigrant, said he had lost a friend in the bush.

Documents found in Thiessen's vehicle revealed he had been staying at
a Best Western Hotel in Bellingham. The agents put the hotel under
surveillance and saw Bafaro look inside a second vehicle listed on
Thiessen's hotel registration.

Bafaro, according to the court document, told the agents he had been
transporting marijuana with three other people.

Thiessen told the agents he was the driver in the operation, picking
up bags of pot and delivering them to Bafaro.

Fontana provided a written statement, expressing his remorse. He said
he was facing financial difficulties and a friend told him Bafaro
could help him. Bafaro told him he could make $10,000 carrying
marijuana across the border in a backpack. "Desperate people
sometimes do desperate things and I decided to partake of my own free
will ... I know I made a mistake and I should pay for that mistake."

Neary told the agents he had really "f----d this one up."

"Neary said that he needed the money and was pretty broke right now,"
agent Hanson said in her statement.

Friends of Neary described him as a trustworthy and dependable
person. "The current situation is extremely surprising to me as Chris
has never been in any trouble before," wrote girlfriend Boman, in a
letter to the U.S. District Court, in support of his successful
request for release pending trial. Boman added: "He [Neary] runs his
own business managing a team of several contractors, teaches art at a
local public school .. loves his dog Indi, who is just 18 months old
but she's a monster at 75 pounds!"

Richard Hoy, a former colleague of Neary's at Telus, in a letter to
the court, wrote: "I am shocked that Chris is in his current
situation with the court ... Chris has a strong sense of right and wrong."

Jameson Pollock, a friend of Fontana, told the court in a letter,
that "knowing Daryl as I do, I would personally vouch that he made a
completely wrong decision for the right reason. Breaking the law is
not Daryl's normal behaviour, but if he did it, it was to provide for
his family."