Olympic runner gets 6 months sentence in Curacao

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao (AP) — A Curacao court on Monday sentenced an Olympic athlete to six months in prison after he was convicted of possessing cocaine while attempting to board a flight to the Netherlands.

 

Public Prosecutor's Office spokesman Norman Serphos said that Brian Mariano was also given three years' probation.

 

The 28-year-old sprinter was born in the former Dutch colony of Curacao and represented the Netherlands in the London Olympics last year.

 

Mariano was arrested Dec. 1 at the country's Hato International Airport after authorities found 750 grams of cocaine stashed in his suitcase as he planned to board a flight to Amsterdam. Authorites later released him because of work-related commitments, said Serphos. He was convicted afterward.

 

Mariano is currently free in the Netherlands, but Serphos said he will be called to return to Curacao to serve his sentence as soon as space is available in the Dutch Caribbean island's prisons. Dutch authorities can arrest him if he doesn't return, the spokesman said.