American Arrested at Airport for Marijuana Importation, Fined $2,000

A thirty-one-year-old New York man has spent his 32nd birthday in a Belizean jail after being caught with drugs upon entering the country. Ryan McKenzie was arrested at the Philip Goldson International Airport on September 10 after arriving on an American Airlines flight. McKenzie, who was unrepresented, appeared in court today and pleaded guilty to importation of a controlled drug. He was found with 53 grams of marijuana. McKenzie was spared the minimum mandatory fine of $10,000 and a three-year prison sentence. The magistrate considered his early guilty plea and the fact that he has no prior convictions in Belize.  McKenzie was fined $2,000 plus a $5.00 cost of court, which he was ordered to pay immediately or face one year in prison.