Baker National Forest Dept: That trek could have ended with a $10,000 cash payoff and financial breathing room for the struggling business that the former Telus marketing director said he was desperate to salvage. Instead, the smuggling expedition ended in drug-trafficking charges, with Mr. Neary now facing the possibility of a lengthy U.S. jail term, according to Globe And Mail. Mr. Neary, 34, owner of the Vancouver ad agency Frank Communications and former director of marketing for Telus, was one of five people arrested near the Canada-U.S border on April 26 and charged with conspiracy to import marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and standing at his side in the darkness were three other men he barely knew, each carrying a similar-sized pack full of marijuana. Ahead of him lay a gruelling 16-hour trek – including five hours on his hands and knees crawling on a mountaintop – between Cultus Lake in British Columbia and Mount Baker National Forest in Washington State. “When they gave me the backpack, I knew I'd made a mistake, but by that point I was in too deep and had to commit to it,” Mr. Neary said in an interview with The , his first since his arrest. “I didn't know who else was involved or how serious of a nature these people were.” As
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