Fun in the sun becomes 'living nightmare' as Ontario man faces 'bogus' drug charges in Dominican Republic

What had been a week of fun in the sun for a Burlington, Ont., couple this winter has turned into "a living nightmare." 

Jane Wilcox said she and David Bennett, as well as another couple, were about to board a flight in the Dominican Republic to head back home from their vacation when Bennett was pulled from a security-check line at Punta Cana International Airport and sent into an interrogation room.

After much pleading, Wilcox said, she was allowed into the interrogation room, where officers showed them a picture on a phone of a bag with a tag bearing the name "Davi — D-A-V-I — Bennett … it had the PUJ airport code on it, so it came into the Punta Cana airport."

Wilcox told CBC Hamilton they later found out the bright yellow bag they were shown on the phone was "full of drugs."

I gave him my two bucks and a charger for his phone, and gave him a big kiss.​​- Jane Wilcox

While the language barrier made it difficult to communicate with the officers, Wilcox said, the couple tried to explain that everything in Bennett's itinerary —  his baggage, his passport, his boarding pass — had "David R. Bennett. [We've] never seen that bag before."

"Through Google Translate, they [the officers] said because of the similarities of the names, 'we need to detain him for further investigation,'" Wilcox said.

"So then, I just went and sat on him," she added. "I just sat on his lap and it was kind of like, 'I can't go.' By then, the other couple was texting to say they were boarding the flight."

'You have to get me out of this mess'

Wilcox and Bennett both work at the same public relations company. She said despite him being detained, he urged her to head back to Canada.

"Dave said, 'You have to go. You have to go home and you have to work for me from there. You have to get me out of this mess.

"I had like $2 US left. We just had brought them for tipping and such, so I gave him my two bucks and a charger for his phone, and gave him a big kiss," she added.

Wilcox said she next heard from Bennett after she landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

"He sent a picture of his own bag, the OGIO bag with his YYZ tag on it that showed David R. Bennett. He said, 'We may need this'" as evidence to back his innocence.

On March 8, Bennett called Wilcox around 12:30 p.m. ET.

"He said, 'I've been arrested for importing illegal drugs and I'm in jail, and last night was the most horrific night of my life. But I'm OK and I need your help. I need you to get on this right away. You got to connect with our RCMP friends, you got to connect with [Burlington MP] Karina Gould's office, you got to get a lawyer — we got to move into action.' So that's exactly what I did," Wilcox said.

Bennett was held in jail for three nights and then taken to court on March 10. Wilcox said he was granted bail for $5,000 and he's now staying at an Airbnb rental. 

Bennett's next court appearance will be "a preliminary trial," but no date has been set, Wilcox said. In the meantime, he's not allowed to leave the Dominican Republic, she said.

Wilcox said they now have legal representation in Canada as well as in the Dominican Republic, and the lawyers are working with authorities in the Caribbean country as they fight the charges.

'Dave is just 100% innocent,' wife says

According to Wilcox, Bennett is a "strong community member" and has never been involved in drugs.

"Dave is just 100 per cent innocent. It's just impossible to even contemplate that this would happen."

Bennett was born in Montreal and moved to Oakville, Ont., as a teenager. He's been living in Burlington for 32 years and has been playing in the Burlington Oldtimers Hockey Club for over 10 years.

"He's a stepfather to my two wonderful boys, Ben and Nick … and Dave's volunteered at Tyandaga Golf Club in the past, and he helps out over at Hidden Lake [Golf Club] because he loves golf so much," Wilcox said.

"He's like the most standup, risk-averse guy you could ever meet. The fact that he's being held on these bogus charges is just so against his character.

"So, until he's back home, we're still in a living nightmare. It is a living nightmare — it's kind of how I describe it all the time," Wilcox added.

Since March 8, the family has connected with Global Affairs Canada, which gave them a case number, she said. Contact was also made with Gould, who represents the couple's federal riding, Wilcox said.

Consular officials in touch with authorities: Global Affairs

CBC Hamilton emailed Global Affairs Canada to ask if it was aware of Bennett being held in the Dominican Republic. The federal department responded, without naming Bennett in particular, that it is aware of the arrest of a Canadian citizen in the Dominican Republic.  

"Consular officials are in contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed," a spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Wilcox said, Gould's office has been very receptive. 

"They escalated it right away to Foreign Affairs and Mélanie Joly's office."  

On Tuesday, an email from Gould's office to CBC said they've been in touch with Wilcox and is aware of her husband's situation in Punta Cana.

"We have reached out to Global Affairs Canada on her behalf, and they are currently investigating the matter while maintaining direct communication with the immediate family. We hope his case will be resolved promptly," the email said.

Additionally, Wilcox said, the family's legal team "has been in touch with WestJet and with YYZ [Pearson airport] to ensure that we're getting all the evidence that we need to just basically demonstrate that David's never been close to a yellow bag in any of the travels that we took."

Wilcox has been in public relations and crisis communications for 30 years, but said "this is the biggest crisis I've worked on in my entire life."

"Little did I know I'd be having to use my experience for my own family, but here we are."

Wilcox said she's been focused on a three-phase approach in dealing with the arrest.

"Phase 1 was to get Dave out of jail, which we did on Monday, March the 10th," she said about him achieving bail. "We're in Phase 2 right now. Phase 2 is getting Dave home and it's proving to be a very long phase, but that's exactly what we're focused on right now — getting David home.

"After that, there'll be Phase 3, and that's once David is home. What happens after that? ... we're not really thinking about that so much because we're so focused on getting him home."

Wilcox said the family has organized a fundraiser for this Friday, and has set up a GiveSendGo account to help "absorb costs for our legal fees and all the rest of the expenses."