Post by WaTcHeR on Jun 17, 2006 13:19:38 GMT -5
06.17.2006 - A former Dane County sheriff's deputy employed a couple to bring hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Arizona to Wisconsin, according to a federal affidavit.
Robert A. Lowery, 57, of the Town of Dunn, along with Jason J. Carr, 25, and Heather R. Lane, 26, both of the town of Genesee, were charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee with conspiring to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana.
Lowery, who worked as a sheriff's deputy from 1979 to 1981, was arrested Wednesday after a raid at his home by the state Division of Criminal Investigation and sheriff's deputies.
It allegedly netted 15 pounds of marijuana, about 25 ounces of cocaine, five guns and $47,000 in cash, said state Department of Justice spokesman Mike Bauer. Officials also seized 52 dogs, including 50 pit bulls.
All three were in custody Friday in Milwaukee after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Aaron Goodstein Thursday. Goodstein ruled Friday that Lowery would remain in jail without bond for now despite his attempt to put up personal property in the town of Dunn as his bond.
Lowery had been fired from the Dane County sheriff's department in 1981 for using department phones to make "several hundred" personal long-distance calls. At the time, Dane County Sheriff Jerome Lacke said many of the calls Lowery made were to dog breeders.
In 1983, Lowery and a partner were convicted of organizing dog fights. Lowery was sentenced to probation with six months in jail.
Lowery's attorney, Charles Giesen, said Thursday the affidavit contains a lot of "hearsay and speculation" and said that Lowery intends to plead not guilty to the charges.
The current 14-page affidavit includes statements by confidential informants who say that Carr told them that the house in Arizona where he picked up marijuana for Lowery is connected to a covert tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border.
Agents first met in February with an unnamed confidential informant who told them about the "possible delivery of anywhere up to 1,000 pounds of marijuana," according to the affidavit.
At that point, the informant did not know Lowery's name or where he lived, only that Carr and Lane obtained marijuana through a person who lived in the area.
In March, agents tracking Carr and Lane's movements were led to Lowery's home.
Agents continued to watch their visits to Lowery and monitored their trips to Arizona using cell phone records. On an April trip, agents attached a global positioning satellite device to the couple's rented car.
According to the affidavit, Carr and Lane typically rented a car and then drove, with their young son and a pit bull dog, to Arizona to pick up the marijuana and bring it back to Lowery, who paid Carr $5,000.
Informants said Carr also raised pit bulls, the affidavit states.
Past Division of Criminal Investigation reports referenced in the affidavit indicated that Lowery, while working as a deputy, tried to get information on drug dealers from sheriff's drug investigators so that he could help his own drug dealer friends avoid search warrants.
He also provided descriptions and license plate numbers of undercover police cars to drug traffickers, the affidavit states.
Throughout the 1980s, Lowery was also mentioned in Division of Criminal Investigation reports as trying to learn the identity of confidential informants and threatening to kill witnesses involved in cases against his drug dealing associates, the affidavit states.
Lowery was also convicted in federal court in Florida in 1990 for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Robert A. Lowery, 57, of the Town of Dunn, along with Jason J. Carr, 25, and Heather R. Lane, 26, both of the town of Genesee, were charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee with conspiring to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana.
Lowery, who worked as a sheriff's deputy from 1979 to 1981, was arrested Wednesday after a raid at his home by the state Division of Criminal Investigation and sheriff's deputies.
It allegedly netted 15 pounds of marijuana, about 25 ounces of cocaine, five guns and $47,000 in cash, said state Department of Justice spokesman Mike Bauer. Officials also seized 52 dogs, including 50 pit bulls.
All three were in custody Friday in Milwaukee after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Aaron Goodstein Thursday. Goodstein ruled Friday that Lowery would remain in jail without bond for now despite his attempt to put up personal property in the town of Dunn as his bond.
Lowery had been fired from the Dane County sheriff's department in 1981 for using department phones to make "several hundred" personal long-distance calls. At the time, Dane County Sheriff Jerome Lacke said many of the calls Lowery made were to dog breeders.
In 1983, Lowery and a partner were convicted of organizing dog fights. Lowery was sentenced to probation with six months in jail.
Lowery's attorney, Charles Giesen, said Thursday the affidavit contains a lot of "hearsay and speculation" and said that Lowery intends to plead not guilty to the charges.
The current 14-page affidavit includes statements by confidential informants who say that Carr told them that the house in Arizona where he picked up marijuana for Lowery is connected to a covert tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border.
Agents first met in February with an unnamed confidential informant who told them about the "possible delivery of anywhere up to 1,000 pounds of marijuana," according to the affidavit.
At that point, the informant did not know Lowery's name or where he lived, only that Carr and Lane obtained marijuana through a person who lived in the area.
In March, agents tracking Carr and Lane's movements were led to Lowery's home.
Agents continued to watch their visits to Lowery and monitored their trips to Arizona using cell phone records. On an April trip, agents attached a global positioning satellite device to the couple's rented car.
According to the affidavit, Carr and Lane typically rented a car and then drove, with their young son and a pit bull dog, to Arizona to pick up the marijuana and bring it back to Lowery, who paid Carr $5,000.
Informants said Carr also raised pit bulls, the affidavit states.
Past Division of Criminal Investigation reports referenced in the affidavit indicated that Lowery, while working as a deputy, tried to get information on drug dealers from sheriff's drug investigators so that he could help his own drug dealer friends avoid search warrants.
He also provided descriptions and license plate numbers of undercover police cars to drug traffickers, the affidavit states.
Throughout the 1980s, Lowery was also mentioned in Division of Criminal Investigation reports as trying to learn the identity of confidential informants and threatening to kill witnesses involved in cases against his drug dealing associates, the affidavit states.
Lowery was also convicted in federal court in Florida in 1990 for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.