United States v. Gordon Edward Croxton, United States of America v. Claude Tremblay, United States of America v. Raul Garcia

Croxton, Tremblay, and Garcia were convicted of conspiracy to import marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963 . Their appeal questions whether a conspiracy agreement was finally formed and whether they were entrapped. We affirm.

The three were in Arizona making plans to fly 800 pounds of marijuana into the United States; Tremblay had access to this amount near his home in Mazatlan, Mexico. They travelled to Phoenix and attempted to hire a pilot, but were unsuccessful because the pilot could not qualify to fly the plane desired.

Arriving in Tucson, Tremblay contacted Lynne Zongker, discussed his lack of success and requested assistance, Unfortunately for Tremblay, Zongker was a government informer and made arrangements for him to meet a proposed pilot, Warren Parthen, a United States Customs Agent. The scheme was discussed further and plans made. Trem-blay wanted to check out a landing strip near Blythe, California so Parthen flew them there. Tremblay paid to have Parthen certified for the aircraft and also paid for the flight.

Only one problem remained — whether the runway to be used in Mazatlan was adequate. All agreed that Tremblay and Parthen would take a commercial flight…