A Canadian Instagram babe who tried to smuggle millions of dollars worth of cocaine into Australia during a sexy, social media-perfect cruise, has been convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, reports The Washington Post. Melina Roberge pleaded guilty on Wednesday and admitted smuggling 95 kilos (209 pounds) of cocaine to Australia in 2016.
In the summer of 2016, Roberge and her accomplice, Isabelle Lagace, keenly documented their fancy weeks-long travels on Instagram. They were on the MS Sea Princess, a cruise ship that docked in 17 ports in 11 countries before it finally arrived at its Sydney destination. Upon their arrival in Australia, border agents searched the ship, and that is where Roberge and Lagace were arrested.
Roberge posted, "Traveling is one thing. But traveling with an open mind, ready to taste everything, see everything, learn everything and get yourself out of your comfort zone … is probably the best therapy and lesson ever. I used to be afraid to get out of my little town and now I feel like I don't want to see that little town anymore cause it's beautiful out there and it's sooo worth it."
The women were packing so much cocaine in their suitcases that, the Australian Border Force said, "they did not have much room for clean underwear or spare toothbrushes," reports The Washington Post. Roberge will serve at least four years and nine months of her eight-year sentence, without eligibility for parole, according to the Associated Press. The AP reported that Lagace was sentenced to 7½ years in prison late last year; her non-parole period is 4½ years.
According to the judge sentencing in the case, it was very sad to see that social media popularity can make someone go that far. "It is a very sad indictment of her relative age group in society to seem to get self-worth relative to posts on Instagram," the judge said in court, according to news.com.au. "It is sad they seek to attain such a vacuous existence where how many likes they receive are their currency. She was seduced by lifestyle and the opportunity to post glamorous Instagram photos from around the world."
Source: washingtonpost.com
