Professor Paul Frampton Convicted of Drug Smuggling

First, the mystery involving the esteemed american college professor, that south american gangsters, the drug deal and the beautiful bikini model. And mark greenblatt is here with morning. Reporter:... See More

First, the mystery involving the esteemed american college professor, that south american gangsters, the drug deal and the beautiful bikini model. And mark greenblatt is here with morning. Reporter: He's an acclaimed oxford-educated scientist, who said he just wanted t find love. But he apparently left his brains at home when he boarded a plane for bolivia, saying he was planning to rendezvous with a famous bikini mod. You're looking at the model whose allure would land this north carolina professor in a south american jail. Convicted on drug smuggling charges. Denise milano is the winner of the 2007 miss bikini world competition. She is someone that prosecutors say scam artists used images to snare paul frampton in a honey trap, where the professor was duped into believing he would meet the model and boarded a plane to bolivia. Milano never showed up. Frampton was met by a man, who gave him a suitcase, and told to take it to milano in argentina. When there, police found four pounds of cocaine. He was well-known. Distinguished. Filled with physics and scientific areas. When it comes to common sense, he scored a zero. Reporter: An argentinean court sentenced him to serve four years and eight months, after prosecutors reveal text messages they say frampton sent intended for the model. Saying, I'm worried about the sniffer dogs. The university has since cut off his salary, a move that prompted more than 60 of frampton's colleagues at carolina to sign this letter of protest. Saying, as more information about his case becomes available, it becomes more and more obvious that paul was the innocent, although very gullible, victim of a scam. From prison, frampton said it does seem unfair that an innocent scam victim is treated as a professional drug smuggler. But the court in argentina ruled otherwise. Ignorance of the law, as we all know, is no excuse. Reporter: Frampton's lawyer in argentina had no comment on the conviction, saying she wanted to see the official ruling first. But apparently frampton has done this before. "The telegraph" of london, said he met a chinese woman online. And flew there to marry her. But in china, she looked at him and said no more nuptials. Time for a look at the other headlines this morning.