Bail lowered for couple in Scotch case

The preliminary hearing for a Canadian couple accused of illegally selling Scotch from a Coeur d’Alene storage unit was delayed Friday, but a magistrate reduced bail to $50,000 for the couple.

Cynthia and Jonathan Bray were in the Kootenai County jail on $100,000 bail after being busted last month by Idaho State Police for allegedly selling $3,350 worth of Scotch to undercover agents from Idaho State Liquor Division.

The Brays said they were trying to get rid of more than 100 boxes of Scotch from a storage unit where they shipped the spirits with plans to truck the bottles to Calgary.

Instead, police said, they illegally sold the Scotch stateside without a license.

The Brays’ attorney, Joseph R. Sullivan of Coeur d’Alene, asked for bail to be reduced for the couple, who live in Calgary and have had no contact with their relatives or friends in Canada.

Sullivan asked that the bond be lowered to make the couple eligible for the jailhouse workforce. The sheriff’s office requires that an inmate’s bond be lower than $100,000 before an inmate is allowed on the labor force.

“The Brays had $100,000 bonds, which disqualified them from being inmate workers,” Lt. Kyle Hutchinson of the jail said. “With their reduced bonds … they now qualify for the inmate worker program.”

The Brays waived their right to a speedy preliminary hearing Friday. The hearing, originally set for this week, was rescheduled for March 19.

Rick Scott of Calgary, a friend of the Brays, said he and others were worried about the couple because they had heard nothing from them except that they had been arrested in Idaho.

“We’re all very anxious,” Scott said.

Although neither of the Brays had criminal records in the U.S., the penalties they face — 10 years behind bars — are enough to make the couple a flight risk, prosecutors said. The state had asked for a high bail amount after their arrest and a Coeur d’Alene judge had them turn over their passports to law enforcement.

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.

Since last November, the Brays shipped 154 boxes of Scotch from a Coeur d’Alene storage unit at Schreiber Way to buyers across the U.S., according to court records.

Police said they seized more than 100 bottles of Scotch and that the Brays had no federal licenses or permits to retail booze in the U.S.