The skip of Canada's gold-medal winning wheelchair curling team has been charged in the United States with trafficking counterfeit goods.
Less than a month after Jim Armstrong led the Canadians to victory at the Paralympics in Vancouver, the 59-year-old Richmond, B.C., resident was arrested in Washington state.
Documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle allege Armstrong tried to smuggle thousands of counterfeit Viagra and Cialis pills into Canada inside a regular cardboard box.
In an affidavit filed with the court, Food and Drug Administration special agent Jim A. Burkhardt said that the box headed to a post office box in Blaine, Wash., from China was first suspected to contain counterfeit pills by customs agents in Los Angeles.
The box, addressed to Carleen Armstrong, contained 2,544 tablets of counterfeit Viagra and 260 tablets of counterfeit Cialis, according to court documents.
Armstrong's wife Carleen died of cancer last fall. According to court documents, she completed the first registration form for the post office box in 2000, and Jim Armstrong completed a second registration form for the box in 2002.
Armstrong was arrested in Blaine on April 15, when he went to the post office box to pick up the package. Armstrong told the arresting officer his son purchased the drugs and distributed them at clubs in Vancouver, according to court documents.
When he was arrested, Burkhardt said that Armstrong, a former dentist, "acknowledged that his conduct was illegal."
None of the allegations against Armstrong have been proven in court.
Armstrong was released after he posted a $20,000 bond. He has not commented publicly. He is due back in court on April 30.
Armstrong skipped the Canadian rink to an 8-7 victory over the South Korean team in the gold medal game at the Paralympics on March 20.
Before taking up wheelchair curling, Armstrong was an able-bodied curler who competed at six Brier championships.
With files from The Canadian Press
