Post by Critique on Feb 7, 2007 2:16:11 GMT -5
Jan 31, 2007
BY REX BOWMAN
ROANOKE - Three more people pleaded guilty today to their roles in a conspiracy in which members of the Henry County Sheriff's Department resold drugs they had seized.
Nine of the 20 indicted by a federal grand jury in October have now pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. A 10th, a former captain in the sheriff's department, is scheduled to plead guilty later today.
Meanwhile, former sheriff H. Franklin Cassell, who retired after being indicted, is asking a federal judge to move his trial out of Roanoke. He faces five charges, including money laundering and obstructing justice. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. His trial has been scheduled for June 5.
Federal prosecutors allege that members of Cassell's department resold drugs they had seized from dealers, trafficked in steroids and prescription pills and pilfered firearms from the evidence room. When federal investigators learned of the illegal activity, the officers lied to agents to cover up their scheme, according to the federal indictment.
Of the 20 people indicted, 12 were current or former members of the sheriff's department.
Those pleading guilty today were: former vice officer Travis Wilkins, 33, of Collinsville, who admitted possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number; Ronald Trantham, 46, of Fieldale, who pleaded guilty to lying to a federal agent and conspiring to commit racketeering after admitting he bought cocaine from one of the crooked officers; and Kandy Deshazo, 33, of Ridgeway, a former post office worker who helped one of the conspirators obtain a post office box under a false name.
They are to be sentenced at a later date. Wilkins faces up to five years in prison, Trantham 25, and Deshazo five.
A hearing on Cassell's motion for a change of venue is scheduled for later today.
www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192950528
BY REX BOWMAN
ROANOKE - Three more people pleaded guilty today to their roles in a conspiracy in which members of the Henry County Sheriff's Department resold drugs they had seized.
Nine of the 20 indicted by a federal grand jury in October have now pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. A 10th, a former captain in the sheriff's department, is scheduled to plead guilty later today.
Meanwhile, former sheriff H. Franklin Cassell, who retired after being indicted, is asking a federal judge to move his trial out of Roanoke. He faces five charges, including money laundering and obstructing justice. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. His trial has been scheduled for June 5.
Federal prosecutors allege that members of Cassell's department resold drugs they had seized from dealers, trafficked in steroids and prescription pills and pilfered firearms from the evidence room. When federal investigators learned of the illegal activity, the officers lied to agents to cover up their scheme, according to the federal indictment.
Of the 20 people indicted, 12 were current or former members of the sheriff's department.
Those pleading guilty today were: former vice officer Travis Wilkins, 33, of Collinsville, who admitted possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number; Ronald Trantham, 46, of Fieldale, who pleaded guilty to lying to a federal agent and conspiring to commit racketeering after admitting he bought cocaine from one of the crooked officers; and Kandy Deshazo, 33, of Ridgeway, a former post office worker who helped one of the conspirators obtain a post office box under a false name.
They are to be sentenced at a later date. Wilkins faces up to five years in prison, Trantham 25, and Deshazo five.
A hearing on Cassell's motion for a change of venue is scheduled for later today.
www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192950528