Would-be expatriate waives extradition

SANDPOINT — A fugitive who allegedly admitted planning to sneak across the Canadian border to evade an indictment is not fighting extradition back to Texas to face drug trafficking charges.

James Christopher Williams has signed a waiver of extradition, documents in 1st District Court show. He is being held at the Bonner County Jail without bail.

Williams, 35, of Las Vegas, was arrested during a routine traffic stop on U.S. Highway 95 in Cocolalla on June 11. Williams was a passenger in a pickup truck which was weaving within its lane and had a broken taillight, according to the arrest report.

Williams was visibly shaking when he attempted to pass himself off as somebody else. He provided three slightly different social security numbers and a date of birth, sheriff’s Deputy Marty Ryan noted in his report.

When the information didn’t check out, Williams was detained for giving false information to a law officer and the truck’s driver gave permission to search the vehicle, the report said.

A tool box in the bed of the pickup held a large green backpack. A loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, nearly $16,000 in cash, survival gear and maps of the international border were found in the backpack, the report indicated.

Williams ultimately confessed to who he was and that the backpack belonged to him, the report stated. He was interviewed by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Forest Service and allegedly told the agents he was a courier who shuttled drugs between Dallas and Seattle.

Williams also reportedly told the agents he planned to go on the lam in Canada and that the $15,894 found in a vacuum-sealed bag were profits from his drug running. A number of rare coins and stamps were also found in the pack.

A grand jury in Texas indicted Williams earlier this month on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper.

The arrest warrant from Texas lists two trafficking charges — one involving grams of a drug and another involving pounds. The substances, however, are not specified.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Phil Robinson has initiated forfeiture proceedings on the ill-gotten gains in Williams’ possession, court records show.