Whisky sales scotched

Couple charged

with illegally

selling booze

A Calgary couple accused of illegally selling Scotch from a Coeur d’Alene storage unit is in the Kootenai County jail on $100,000 bail.

Cynthia and Jonathan Bray, who have been married 30 years and together started a Scotch whisky distribution business in Canada, could face 10 years in prison for bringing their booze business across the border.

The Brays were busted this week by Idaho State Police after selling $3,350 worth of Scotch to undercover agents from Idaho State Liquor Division.

The couple said they were trying to get rid of more than 100 boxes of Scotch from a storage unit where it was shipped because of trade disagreements that prevented the liquor from going to Canada.

Instead, they shipped the spirits to Idaho and planned to haul the hootch to Calgary. Selling it stateside, however, would save them the transport north, they told police.

Bringing liquor into Idaho without the proper authorization “is in violation of a number of state laws,” according to Tony Faraca, the chief deputy director of the state’s liquor division.

Prosecutors this week asked a Coeur d’Alene magistrate judge to set bail for each of the Brays at $250,000, and to require them to turn over their passports to authorities. Deputy prosecutor Jed Whitaker said he planned to charge racketeering in the case.

Although neither of the Brays had criminal records in the U.S., the penalties — 10 years behind bars — are severe enough to make the couple a flight risk, Whitaker said.

“That is an incentive for the Brays to not appear back in the states for court,” he said.

Kootenai Magistrate Anna Eckhart settled on a lower bail amount, and required the couple to forfeit their passports.

The Brays both face two felony charges of criminal conspiracy to sell liquor without a license, and selling liquor without a license.

Whitaker said the Brays told the private postal franchise handling their shipments that the boxes contained blown glass from Scotland instead of whisky, which shows the couple knew their acts were illegal.

According to their website and Facebook page, the Brays operate a Calgary-based company called Secret Spirits. They travel at least once a year to Scotland to buy Scotch — from bottles to barrels — which is shipped home and distributed through a variety of products packaged by the company.

According to postal records, the Brays since last November shipped 154 boxes of Scotch from a Schreiber Way storage unit to buyers throughout the U.S.

Police said they seized more than 100 bottles of Scotch from the storage unit. The Brays have no federal licenses or permits to retail booze in the U.S., according to court records.

The couple’s next court appearance is March 6 in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court.