American Student Gets 3 Years in Russian Drug Case

An American Fulbright scholar was sentenced to more than three years in prison on drug charges Friday in a verdict his lawyer said was influenced by accusations from Russia’s secret service that his client was a spy in training.

John Edward Tobin, 24, of Ridgefield, Conn., had firmly asserted his innocence. During the trial, a prosecutor who said police apparently doctored reports in the case asked for the most serious drug trafficking charges against him to be thrown out. Tobin was convicted on the lesser charges of obtaining, possessing and distributing marijuana.

During the trial, the investigator who filled out the police report stating how much marijuana was found testified that she “just pulled this weight out of the air.” The prosecutor, angry at the police, said she was “ashamed to sit here and support the charges.”

Tobin was arrested Jan. 26 outside a nightclub in Voronezh, about 300 miles south of Moscow. Police said that he had a small matchbox containing marijuana and that a small packet of the drug was found in a book in his apartment.

The arrest attracted little attention until about a month later, when the Federal Security Service stated publicly that Tobin, who was studying at Voronezh State University under a grant, was apparently training to be an espionage agent.

The accusation about Tobin’s intelligence connections came about a week after U.S. investigators arrested FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen on charges of spying for Russia, escalating tensions over espionage between Washington and Moscow. Tobin had studied at a U.S. military school and at the U.S. Defense Language Institute.

“I am a student. I came here to study. I don’t have anything to do with drugs,” Tobin said in his final statement to the court, speaking from the metal cage in which defendants are kept in Russian trials.

Four hours later, Judge Tatyana Korchagina read the verdict in a courtroom packed with journalists, supporters and curious Voronezh residents. Tobin stood with his hands behind his back, listening attentively but showing no reaction.

Tobin’s attorney, Maxim Bayev, said he would appeal the sentence.