Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2001
Source: Kentucky Post (KY)
Copyright: 2001 Kentucky Post
Contact:  http://www.kypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/661
Author: John C.K. Fisher

POLICE, FBI SPLIT SPOILS

The Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force and the FBI will share $825,000 in 
cash, nine trucks or cars, a mobile home and 10 firearms taken from a 
marijuana ring based in Florence.

The value of the confiscated property makes it one of the largest 
forfeiture cases ever in Northern Kentucky, officials said during 
Wednesday's announcement.

"This was a good case for us," said Jim Paine, director of the anti-drug 
agency that operates in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.

What the money will be spent on locally and how it will be divided among 
the agencies that make up the agency hasn't been decided yet, Paine said. 
Federal law prohibits the money from being spent on salaries and dictates 
that it go for equipment, such as radios, guns and bullet-proof vests, to 
fight "the war on drugs," he said.

Police haven't decided whether they will use or sell the vehicles, which 
include a 1998 Chevrolet pickup truck, a 1999 Toyota Landcruiser and a 1997 
Clayton mobile home.

Seven of eight people charged in the case have been convicted of marijuana 
possession and six have received prison sentences ranging from 18 months to 
five years, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bunning, who prosecuted the 
case.

A seventh defendant, Marsheila Roberts, is to be sentenced soon in federal 
court in Covington. The eighth, John Vangor of Tucson, Ariz., remains at large.

Bunning said authorities have seized 597 pounds of marijuana, believed to 
be worth about $597,000, from the ring The ring, led by Jerry Roberts of 
Florence, sold 300 pounds to 700 pounds of marijuana a month for the past 
10 years, authorities said.

Authorities began to infiltrate the ring in June 2000, when Detective Bill 
Wilson of the strike force used a cooperative witness to buy about 50 
pounds of marijuana from Debra Wesley of Florence, who is Jerry Roberts' 
sister. The marijuana came from a storage facility in Florence.

Jerry and Marsheila Roberts are married. Others involved in the ring: Jerry 
Roberts' brother, Louis "Pete" Roberts; his sister and brother-in-law, Kim 
McCoy Brock and Randy Brock; and Joe Woodland of Utah.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom