Ex-Mohawk chief gets prison in upstate NY pot bust

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A former chief of the St. Regis Mohawk tribe has been sentenced to a year in prison following his arrest more than a year ago at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint with two hockey bags filled with marijuana.

U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy has also ordered 69-year-old Phillip Tarbell, of Hogansburg, to pay a $10,000 fine.

Federal prosecutors say that Tarbell, following his Nov. 12, 2010, arrest in Essex County, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He faces other charges following his Nov. 3, 2011, arrest, accused of trying to sell 1,800 ecstasy pills to an undercover agent in Queens.