Paralympian says he pleaded guilty to save son from harsh U.S. prison term long

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Paralympian says he pleaded guilty to save son from harsh U.S. prison term


Gold medallist took fall in fake-viagra case to get plea deal



Paralympic gold medallist Jim Armstrong of Richmond says he took a fall in a U.S. fake-Viagra case to save his son from the risk of a long prison term.

Armstrong, skip of the Canadian wheelchair curling 2010 Paralympics team, was arrested in Blaine, Wash., less than a month after winning gold. He was fined $30,000 in U.S. Federal Court in Seattle on Monday, right after his son Gregory was sent to jail for a year and a day and fined $5,000 for his part in the scheme.

Armstrong, 59, said he did nothing wrong, but agreed to a guilty plea because authorities told him that if he didn't, his son wouldn't be able to get his plea agreement for a year and a day in jail.

Gregory, 28, would have faced a 10-year prison sentence, Armstrong said he was told.

"They put a gun to my head by putting it to Greg's head," he said.

In April 2010 a U.S. federal agent watched Armstrong open a box that contained about 2,800 counterfeit erectile-dysfunction pills. The box, addressed to Armstrong's late wife Carleen, was sent from China to a Mail Boxes International box used by the Armstrongs in Blaine.

U.S. court documents show the box had been intercepted by U.S. Customs in Los Angeles, leading to a stakeout of the mailbox outlet by federal agents.

On Tuesday, Armstrong said he opened the box because it was large, looked beat-up and had been wrapped with a lot of tape.

"If I knew what was in the box, why would I have opened it in plain view of everybody?" the retired dentist said.

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U.S. Food and Drug Administration Special Agent Jim Burkhardt pounced before Armstrong had a chance to call his son to ask about the contents of the box, Armstrong claimed.

"There's not a chance in the world that I'm taking this across the border," Armstrong said. "I know it's got to be illegal."

Gregory had many legitimate products sent to the mailbox, because it was cheaper to ship items there than to Canada, Armstrong said. It was only after being arrested that he found out Gregory had been ordering and selling pills, Armstrong said.

The U.S. prosecutor's case was riddled with inaccuracies, Armstrong claimed Tuesday.

Agent Burkhardt presented Armstrong's conjectures as facts, Armstrong said. For example, Armstrong said, when Burkhardt asked him what Gregory would be doing with the pills, Armstrong told him, "I guess he must have been distributing them to friends of his because he worked as a bartender sometimes in downtown [Vancouver] nightclubs."

That statement was then used as an admission by Armstrong that he knew his son was selling pills, Armstrong said. In fact, it turned out that Gregory was selling the pills online, not in clubs, Armstrong said.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Emily Langlie said Armstrong needs to live with the statements he made.

"That's what he told law enforcement. It's unfortunate that having entered a guilty plea that he is now interested in disputing the facts of the case," Langlie said, adding that Armstrong pleaded guilty "freely and voluntarily."

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Jim Armstrong leaves U.S. District Court in Seattle Monday after being fined $30,000.