Former Playboy magazine Playmate Colleen Shannon was in Federal Court this week, charged with trying to smuggle her Canadian boyfriend, Robert Skojo, across the US-Canada border during summer 2012. 
While Canadians are able to travel to the United States pretty easily with a valid passport, a Canadian criminal record can render them inadmissible to the United States, making their entry illegal. Robert Skojo has a Canadian criminal record, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard, for “living on the avails of prostitution” as well as drug charges.
The trial has been delayed as Shannon was in the midst of hiring a new lawyer.
Accused of “smuggling illegal immigrants” into the United States
According to Assistant United States Attorney Gwendolyn Caroll, Shannon was stopped at a United States entry point while driving her boyfriend’s car, and could not provide any proof that she was allowed to drive his car. While she was allowed through, border agents kept an eye on her and found her to have reunited with her boyfriend at a hotel within the United States near an Indian Reservation, as he has snuck into the country via a boat across a river.
Shannon does not think she should be charged with smuggling because she did not physically bring someone into the country, she just picked him up on the other side.
It is interesting to note that if convicted, Shannon will face a MUCH stiffer sentence than her boyfriend if convicted. Currently, her boyfriend has to spend six months in jail before he is deported back to Canada upon release. However, she could face anywhere between 33 months and 41 months in prison.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/01/playboy_playmate_makes_court_a.html
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Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
