BANGOR – A New Brunswick man who drove across the U.S. border after refusing to open his car trunk was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to 51 months in federal prison.

Yvan Marquis of Bakerbrook, New Brunswick, pleaded guilty in December to four charges: entering the U.S. without inspection, assaulting or resisting a federal officer, departing a port of entry illegally and importation of marijuana.

He was sentenced on the first count to six months in prison. On the second, he received 12 months in prison with one year of supervised release. On counts three and four, he received 51 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

Marquis, 51, drove through the Madawaska border crossing about noon Oct. 5 after agents stopped him and asked him to open the trunk of his car.

U.S. officials had been alerted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that Marquis’ car would cross the border with marijuana, according to court documents.

Marquis was arrested about 30 minutes later in Frenchville driving north on U.S. Route 1A. Agents found small pieces of a substance that field-tested positive for marijuana in both the trunk and in two large hockey bags found in the trunk.

Marquis told agents that he was a private chauffeur for exotic dancers and had given two dancers a ride to Montreal on Sept. 23 and that they had placed the bags in the trunk of his car, according to court documents.

When they arrived in Montreal, the women took the bags into their apartment, emptied them, then put the bags back into his trunk, Marquis said. He said the bags had been in his trunk since then.