Pubdate: Thu, 07 Sep 2000
Source: Intelligencer Journal (PA)
Copyright: 2000 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  P.O. Box 1328, Lancaster, PA 17608-1328
Feedback: http://www.lancnews.com/lnp/letterintell.html
Website: http://www.lancnews.com/intell/index.html
Author: Laurie Mason

ACCUSED DRUG KINGPIN COMMITS SUICIDE

RICHBORO - The owner of a Penndel limousine company who was set to appear 
in court Wednesday on drug charges apparently committed suicide by hanging 
himself in his basement.

John Cern III, 35, was found dead around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday by John Stone, 
a friend and co-worker. Stone, who worked at Cern's business, Beverly Hills 
Limousine, was sent to the home by family members who were concerned 
because Cern failed to appear for a 1:30 p.m. preliminary hearing before 
District Justice Joseph Falcone in Penndel.

Authorities say Cern apparently jumped off a three-foot step stool and 
hanged himself. A neighbor, Robert Stotesbury, said he last saw Cern around 
9 a.m. Wednesday.

Cern did not leave a suicide note, police said. An autopsy will be 
performed later this week.

Cern's family members learned of the death while talking on a cell phone to 
Stone, who had crawled into a window of the locked home to locate Cern.

Upon hearing the news, Cern's mother, Virginia Boruta, 53, of Warminster, 
collapsed in the courthouse parking lot. She was taken to a hospital by 
ambulance for "stress related illness," said Penndel police Chief Stephen 
Burke.

Other family members paced around the parking lot, weeping and screaming at 
members of the media who were there to cover Cern's arrival. Just moments 
before, Falcone had warned Cern's attorney, John Kerrigan, that he was 
ready to issue a warrant for Cern's arrest for failing to appear.

Kerrigan said he was shocked at the news, but knew Cern was nervous about 
the publicity surrounding his arrest.

"I spoke to him several times yesterday and we talked about what would 
happen in court today. He was thinking of coming here very early to avoid 
the media. I had no idea ... I'm not sure he had any idea," Kerrigan said.

Cern was arrested on June 7 after he allegedly sold 13 pounds marijuana to 
a confidential informant. Police searched a garage Cern owned in Penndel 
and found 113 pounds of the drug. The drugs had a street value of about 
$250,000, police said.

In Cern's home on Second Street Pike in Richboro, police allegedly found 
$87,000 in cash stuffed in shoeboxes.

If convicted, Cern faced a mandatory minimum nine years in a state prison.

Bucks County District Attorney Diane Gibbons said detectives estimated that 
Cern had been a major player in the local drug scene for at least 10 years. 
She said she'd heard after Cern's body was found Wednesday that his family 
was blaming prosecutors and the media for his death.

"Make no mistake about it, the only one responsible here is John Cern. He 
was living a lie and was about to be exposed. He committed suicide because 
that false front was taken away from him and he was about to be held 
accountable for his actions."

Gibbons said Cern was a "selfish" and "arrogant" man who made millions 
selling drugs throughout the County. When he was arrested in June, 
authorities seized seven properties - including homes in Bristol Township, 
Warminster and New Hope - as well as nine luxury cars.

One of the cars, a 1998 Dodge Viper, bore an anti-drug DARE license plate. 
Cern also owned a Lamborghini, a Corvette and a 1957 Chevy that had been 
converted into a limousine.

The seized cars and properties will not be returned to Cern's family, 
Gibbons said, but will be sold at a drug forfeiture auction.

"They were bought with drug proceeds. We will continue court proceedings to 
have those items forfeited and sold, the proceeds to go to the drug 
forfeiture fund," she said.

Gibbons said Cern often wore jackets and hats emblazoned with the FBI and 
State Police insignia. While searching Cern's home following his arrest, 
police found a poster depicting "Peter Pot Pusher," a cartoon character, 
hanging over Cern's bed.

Cern had been free on $110,000 bail, after agreeing to post his properties 
and money from his family at a bail hearing in June. Cern's original bail 
had been set at $7.5 million, but was reduced by Bucks County Judge John Rufe.

Lisa Backenstoss, the senior deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, 
said there was no new evidence against Cern that might have prompted him to 
panic and commit suicide, but that Cern had listened to a wiretap recording 
of his dealings with the confidential informant. ON the tape, Cern was 
heard counting money and measuring drugs.

The informant, Joseph Ragnolia, 35, of Philadelphia, was also set to 
testify against Cern on Wednesday.

"There was overwhelming evidence against him," she said.

Gibbons agreed.

"He knew we had him. The only reason this man is dead is because he was a 
drug dealer."

Shortly after police arrived to take Cern's body from his home, a young 
woman pulled her car into the driveway. Two Northampton patrolmen met the 
woman, clearly in anguish, and restrained her.

She would not talk to a reporter, saying only "talk to the police."

Gibbons said Wednesday that she felt bad for Cern's family.

"To them he was a son and a brother. They had to deal with the 
embarrassment of him being a drug dealer. Now they have to deal with the 
pain of his suicide."

Cern was not married and had no children, authorities said.

Gibbons said she hoped young people would learn something from Cern's mistakes.

"This just goes to show that drug dealing is not glamorous. You may drive 
around in a Dodge Viper for awhile, but eventually that Viper is taken away 
and you go to jail."
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