DETROIT – A man who admitted to using his submarine business to smuggle drugs between the United States and Canada escaped authorities by fleeing a hotel in the middle of the night and was found in the Detroit River attached to floating bags of marijuana, officials said.
Glen Richard Mousseau, from Canada, was pulled over May 10 while driving a U-Haul truck on St. Clair Highway in China Township, Michigan, according to authorities.
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Deputies from the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office found a large plastic package in the truck, and Mousseau said he didn’t know who it belonged to, officials said.
The package contained about $97,060 in U.S. money, court records say.
Mousseau was taken into custody and brought to the St. Clair County Jail.
Submarine smuggling operation
Agents from Homeland Security interviewed Mousseau later that day at the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.
Mousseau said he had entered the U.S. illegally, officials said. He told them he directs a smuggling organization that moves money and drugs between Canada and the U.S., according to court records.
Mousseau said his smuggling organization has moved marijuana, cocaine or money successfully seven times, police said.
When he was arrested, Mousseau was scouting for somewhere to smuggle the money in the truck from the U.S. into Canada, according to authorities.
He told agents that he gives GPS coordinates to someone in Canada, and that person crosses the river in a submarine, officials said.
Mousseau would then send the drugs or money and his associate back across the river, court records show.
Mousseau said he’s the owner of a submarine that was seized by Border Patrol agents April 23 from the Zug Island shoreline.
During the interview, Mousseau gave agents permission to search the two cellphones in his possession, officials said. Agents found conversations with several people about GPS coordinates on the shoreline of the Detroit River, according to court records.
Many of those locations are known maritime smuggling spots, authorities said.
Mousseau told police he expected to take additional drugs that he was being paid to smuggle into Canada from the U.S., but the drugs hadn’t yet been delivered, officials said.
Hotel escape
Authorities released Mousseau and allowed him to stay at the Baymont Hotel in Flat Rock as the investigation continued.
He told Homeland Security around 9 p.m. May 21 that he would provide information about a multiple kilogram methamphetamine shipment arriving in Metro Detroit the following day, according to court documents.
Mousseau left the hotel on foot around 3 a.m. May 22, security footage shows. He called the front desk around 6 a.m. that day to say he would be traveling out of state for an emergency funeral and asked them to clean his room and pack his belongings, officials said.
He discontinued contact with Homeland Security agents that day, they said.
Search of belongings
Investigators asked hotel staff members for Mousseau’s personal belongings, and the hotel said the property was considered abandoned, so it was turned over to an agent.
Officials found five cellphones and a laptop in Mousseau’s belongings. There was also a dry suit, officials said.
Mousseau’s suitcase contained Canadian identity documents, including a passport, an Ontario temporary driver’s license and a birth certificate, authorities said. The documents had been reported stolen in January 2019, officials said.
A detective spoke with the owner of the documents and learned they had been stolen from his house during a break-in, according to authorities.
Mousseau found in Detroit River
Around 2:35 a.m. Friday (June 5), Border Patrol agents saw a vessel cross the international boundary into United States waters, officials said.
After trying to stop the vessel, agents said they saw two large bundles being thrown into the water. While approaching the bundles, agents said they saw an unconscious man in the water. He was later identified as Mousseau.
Mousseau was attached to the bundles by a type of tow strap, authorities said. There was about 265 pounds of suspected marijuana in the bundles, according to court records.
Mousseau and the bundles were removed from the water and taken to the Gibraltar Border Patrol Station for processing.
Charges
Officials said Mousseau had been ordered excluded/deported from the U.S. in December 1995.
HSI agents said proposed three charges against Mousseau: possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, bulk cash smuggling and unlawful/improper entry.