Article content continued

“This was more stupid than it was criminal,” Crown prosecutor Brian Munn told the judge, according to the CBC.

There were probably 100 plus security personnel, Canadian and U.S., surrounding the vehicle

The CBC reported that the two brothers remained silent in court as an agreed-upon set of facts was read aloud, detailing how their escapades had landed them in jail. It all started on the day before their arrest, when they bought the vintage Skylark, which had no certificate of registration, legal documents or licence plates.

For reasons unknown, the brothers decided that they didn’t want to stop at any gas stations until they crossed into Mexico, so they loaded 21 jugs of gasoline in the back seat and trunk, the CBC reported. The antique car wasn’t equipped with a GPS, so they planned their travels on paper maps and threw those into the back as well, along with some food for the 8,000-kilometre journey.

The larger issue, however was that they had no passports or any other form of ID with them. The Roys decided to take a back road through a remote stretch of the North Country where they were unlikely to encounter checkpoints, then sneak into Maine.

Their old-school navigation methods evidently failed: At around 10 a.m. on Oct. 26, they found themselves approaching one of the largest checkpoints in New Brunswick, 560 kilometres from home.

Bailey had been driving, and Damien sat in the passenger seat. According to the CBC, Munn said they both “froze” when they realized what was happening. The Skylark abruptly came to a stop in the middle of the road.