BANGOR – A U.S. District Court judge Tuesday denied a Canadian man’s motion to dismiss charges that resulted from his controversial arrest last fall at a border gasoline station.

Michel Jalbert, 32, of Pohenegamook, Quebec, pleaded not guilty in early November to charges of entering the country without inspection, possession of a firearm by an illegal alien and possession of a firearm by a felon. If convicted, he faces a possible six months in prison on the entry count and up to 10 years in prison on the firearms violations.

His trial is scheduled for Tuesday, March 11, in federal court in Bangor.

“I was very disappointed by the decision,” Jalbert said by telephone Wednesday afternoon. “It’s really bizarre, and I thought they would leave me alone now.

“I thought I had paid enough for what they say I did,” he said in French. “I thought the judge would let everything drop.”

Jalbert’s arrest and 35-day detention attracted attention from international media and ignited criticism of the post-Sept. 11, 2001, tightening of U.S. border crossings.

The logger was arrested on Oct. 11, 2002, as he attempted to buy discount gasoline at the Gaz Bar station is Estcourt. The station’s lower driveway is in Canada while its gas pumps are in the United States. A Border Patrol agent questioned Jalbert after noticing his hunting shotgun in his truck, said Jon Haddow, Jalbert’s Bangor attorney, when his client was released on $5,000 bail in November.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service considered Jalbert an inadmissible alien because he had a prior criminal record in Canada. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to one count of breaking and entering and one count of receiving stolen property. Jalbert paid a $200 fine and was given probation for the offenses.

In the motion to dismiss, Haddow argued that in arresting Jalbert, the government’s conduct was “outrageous” because a June 18, 1990, letter to the gas station from the district director of the customs service excused gas station customers from inspection upon entering the United States. The attorney also maintained that the felon in possession count should be dismissed because it was unclear whether the law included foreign convictions

Judge George Singal deferred ruling on the issue of whether the government’s conduct was outrageous in arresting Jalbert until trial, when the “charges will require an examination of the nature of defendant’s entry into the United States.”

The judge also agreed with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that Congress intended the felon in possession provision to include foreign convictions because individuals convicted of serious crimes abroad are just as dangerous as individuals convicted of those crimes within the United States.

Jalbert believed that spending more than five weeks in jail was punishment enough. He is awaiting the trial with some trepidation, he said.

Despite the decision, he said, he has a positive attitude because a second daughter will be coming into his family around Feb. 28. Jalbert and his common-law wife, Chantale, already have one daughter.