Photo courtesy of Fox News.
Summary: A drug smuggler who bragged about her wealth on Instagram has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
A female judge in Australia has sentenced cruise ship cocaine importer Melina Roberge to eight years in prison. The gorgeous drug smuggler had been smuggling drugs under the guise of an extended vacation, and she had bragged about her luxurious travels on Instagram, a move that led to her downfall, according to the New York Post.
During sentencing, Roberge, 24, wept as the judge gave her a sentence that was more than her co-defendant, Isabelle Lagace, 30, who had taken an early plea deal.
In 2016, Roberge and Lagace were traveling around the world on a cruise ship that stopped at various ports in different countries. The ship was en route to Sydney, and the girls along with one man were smuggling 209 pounds of cocaine in their suitcases.
Roberge and Lagace documented their trip on Instagram, and many of the photos showed off the girls’ bodies in bikinis with the backdrop of different exotic locations. New South Wales District Court Judge Kate Traill said that the girls’ showing off their drug cruise online was “sad.”
“It is a very sad indictment on her relative age group in society to seem to get self-worth relative to posts on Instagram,” Traill said on Wednesday. “It is sad they seek to attain such a vacuous existence where how many likes they receive are their currency. She was seduced by lifestyle and the opportunity to post glamorous Instagram photos from around the world.”
Roberge had said that her motivation to commit the crime was financial, and Judge Traill revealed that there was also a sexual motivation, as Roberge was involved with a “sugar daddy” who recruited her.
“He charmed her and spoiled her and became intimately involved with her,” Traill said.
The much older man convinced Roberge to work as an escort, and she slept with men he introduced to her, essentially working as her pimp.
Roberge and Lagace were seized in Sydney, Australia in August 2016 after traveling months on the MS Sea Princess. The third Canadian, Andre Tamine, was also arrested after customs found the cocaine in their suitcases.
Roberge said that she was recruited in June 2016 by her sugar daddy to go on the cruise, and she and her friend were offered $20,000 plane tickets and $4,000 to fly to the UK, where the cruise began. The Sea Princess made numerous stops in places such as Bermuda and Colombia, and Roberge said that in Peru was where the drug deal was most likely made.
Roberge will serve a minimum of four years and nine months in prison, and her earliest release date is May 2021.
Roberge said she apologized to people who were struggling with addiction. “I have come across people struggling with addiction. I don’t want to be part of that,” she said.