CUSTOMS AGENT IS CHARGED IN MARIJUANA SMUGGLING

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer has been arrested by his
own colleagues and charged with trying to smuggle more than 500 pounds
of marijuana from Canada into Washington.

Corey W. Whitfield, of Point Roberts, Whatcom County, was stopped at
the border in Blaine on Sept. 13, driving a white van into the United
States. When asked for identification, Whitfield, who had been
employed as a border agent for eight years, presented a diplomatic
passport.

According to charges filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle,
Whitfield said, "I'm one of us" and claimed he was transporting an
engine to a repair shop in the United States.

Suspicious, the border agent asked to look in the back of Whitfield's
van, which turned out to contain the engine block, as well as about
535 pounds of marijuana stuffed into cabinets, court documents alleged.

Whitfield at first claimed not to know there was marijuana in the van,
but he later stated that he had been coerced into a scheme devised by
another man, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors say Whitfield said
he met the other man at a party while moonlighting as a bodyguard and
agreed to drive the van across the border.

Prosecutors say Whitfield told agents he was forced into the scheme
when the partygoer showed him photos of Whitfield in "compromising
situations involving illegal drugs and a sexual encounter with a
female at the party" and threatened to send them to his wife, the
charging documents say.

Prosecutors said they think Whitfield had made at least one previous
smuggling trip.

A detention hearing is scheduled for today. If convicted, Whitfield
could face at least five years behind bars.