Last Updated: July 27, 2011 7:42am

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/07/27/18475026.html

CALGARY - Smuggling nearly a half-million dollars in U.S. drug cash into Alberta should land a St. Thomas, Ontario man 18 months in jail, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Crown lawyer Paul Bourassa said a period behind bars for Joseph Dale Butler is necessary to deter other money laundering schemes.

"Money laundering is a very serious offence," Bourassa told Calgary provincial court Judge Judith Shrier.

Quoting from an expert report from RCMP Sgt. Stephen Scott, the prosecutor said people like Butler are crucial to the criminal underworld.

"Cash and money are generally the lifeblood of crime and terrorist activities," Bourassa told court.

Butler, 36, earlier pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of laundering the proceeds of crime along with an allegation under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorism Financing Act.

The latter charge involved failing to report the importation of more than $10,000 to border guards when Butler attempted to enter at the Coutts crossing on April 20, 2009.

Bourassa said Butler was stopped driving a pickup truck which was hauling an empty horse trailer and flagged for a secondary inspection.

"The secondary inspection revealed a hidden compartment in the horse trailer," the prosecutor said.

Border officials found $460,030 (U.S.) in bundled bills in a blue duffel bag hidden inside the compartment, Bourassa said.

An additional $8,920 was found in a utility drawer in the trailer, as well as $8,100 in one of Butler's boots, he said.

The latter two amounts were to be Butler's payment for the cash, which he had picked up while travelling to Illinois from Calgary.

Before being sent for the secondary search, Butler was asked what he'd been doing in the U.S. and he said he was looking for a horse for his girlfriend.

When asked what kind of horse he replied: "A brown one."

Defence counsel William Kennedy, who is seeking a conditional sentence of house arrest for his client, said Butler, of St. Thomas, was trying to raise cash to buy back his grandfather's farm.

"My friend concedes he's not a risk to the community," Kennedy said of his client.

If Shrier finds jail necessary, Kennedy said a federal term of at least two years would be appropriate so Butler can be nearer his family.

Shrier will rule Aug. 31.