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Thursday, June 4, 2009
Convicted head of drug conspiracy could face life in prison
DAYTON — A man accused of leading a drug trafficking ring that brought hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to southwest Ohio was convicted Thursday, June 4, of federal felony charges.
Daniel Garcia-Guia, 28, a Mexican national who was living in Dayton, had been on trial since May 18. The jury deliberated for two hours before finding him guilty of all charges:
• one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
• one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances
• and one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise which involved at least 150 kilograms of cocaine, and which had Garcia-Guia among its principal leaders or organizers.
Garcia-Guia faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole for his role as one of the principal leaders or organizers of this “continuing criminal enterprise,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sept. 3.
“The crimes of conspiracy and drug trafficking are each punishable by a mandatory sentence of at least ten years up to life imprisonment,” said Gregory G. Lockhart. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. “Operating a continuing criminal enterprise of this size among the principal leadership is punishable by life imprisonment without the possibility of release.”
Garcia-Guia’s organization brought drugs to southwest Ohio from 2005 until his arrest in April 2007, according to federal authorities. Garcia-Guia has been in federal custody since then.
Testimony presented during the trial showed that Garcia-Guia and his co-conspirators arranged for the delivery and distribution of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from El Paso, Texas and elsewhere via motor vehicles and interstate freight shipments to the Dayton area, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As part of the investigation, DEA and FBI agents in El Paso intercepted a load of 25 kilograms of cocaine bound for Dayton, worth approximately $750,000 wholesale and having an even greater street value.
This seizure led to evidence further unraveling the conspiracy. Garcia-Guia and his co-conspirators maintained real property (or “stash houses”) in the Dayton area, wherein kilogram quantities of cocaine and large amounts of U.S. currency drug proceeds were stored, packaged and distributed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During the investigation, law enforcement seized over $3 million in cash drug proceeds from one such location during execution of a search warrant in 2005.
Twenty-two others indicted along with Garcia-Guia in and after May 2007 have entered guilty pleas and have been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing. Two others remain at large and are fugitives and are believed to have left the country. An additional defendant is believed to have been murdered while in Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Lockhart commended the DEA and Organized Crime and Drug Task Force agents who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Schenck and Andrew Hunt, who prosecuted the case.
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Ex-coach Greenberg pleads not guilty to Internet sex charges
DAYTON — Former Chaminade Julienne High School girls basketball coach Marc Greenberg pleaded not guilty Thursday, June 4, to 12 counts of using the Internet to transmit obscene material to individuals younger than 16.
Greenberg, 32, appeared briefly before U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose. He was indicted May 27. Conviction on each count carries a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment.
Federal agents arrested him May 4 at his Kettering law office and charged him with 12 counts of violating federal obscenity law. Authorities claim Greenberg used computers at his office and his Centerville home to engage in graphic sexual conversation and to transmit obscene images, including videos of himself masturbating.
Greenberg has been on home detention since early May, and he had been ordered to wear an ankle bracelet to electronically monitor his whereabouts. His attorneys asked Rose on Thursday to consider allowing releasing him from electronic monitoring and allow him to return to work, noting that Greenberg is a life-long resident of the area without a criminal record, a home-owner with a family.
Rose made no decision Thursday on changing the conditions of bond, stating he would take it under advisement.
Under the bond conditions originally set up by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sharon Ovington, Greenberg is not to associate with children younger than 18 except his own three kids; not to use a computer or any device capable of Internet access except in connection with his job; and to avoid any contact with present or past students, regardless of age. He was also ordered to surrender his passport and to stay in southern Ohio.
The indictment covers several dates between Feb. 19 and April 29, and the charges are the same as in the original complaint.
The affidavit in support of the complaint alleges that beginning in late January, a New York law enforcement officer, posing as an underage female, began electronic communication with an individual who was using the screen names bballguy5555@aol.com and aig2010@aol.com.
The conversations became more sexually explicit as time passed “as he persistently suggested and requested that (the investigator) perform sexual acts for his own gratification,” according to the affidavit. He urged the “girl” to send sexually explicit images of herself and eventually sent streaming video of himself masturbating.
Investigators traced the bballguy5555 screen name, as well as the screen name aig2010@aol.com, to Greenberg’s office.
Last month, Greenberg told an undercover investigator posing online as a 13-year-old girl from New York that he had purchased airline tickets to fly there to meet the girl for sex, according to the affidavit.
Greenberg never made the trip. He told the investigator his wife had discovered a credit card bill with the airline charges and asked him about it. Greenberg said he told his wife the credit card had been stolen and he had canceled the trip, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also alleges that Greenberg, using the same screen names, also engaged in similar conversations with a person who he believed was an underage daughter of a military service member but who was, in fact, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigator.
The charges against Greenberg do not allege any illegal conduct by him in his role as the Chaminade Julienne girls basketball coach. FBI investigators and Dayton police interviewed students involved with the girls basketball program, according to school officials. The students’ parents were notified of the interviews and invited to morning briefing sessions.
School officials said they have no reason to believe CJ students are victims.
Greenberg, who led the CJ girls basketball team to a state championship in 2005, has been involved with the program since the 1996-97 season, according to school officials.
Greenberg is a Northmont High graduate. According to bio posted on his law firm’s Web site, Greenberg is a 1999 graduate of the University of Dayton with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and a 2003 graduate of the UD School of Law, where he graduated with honors.
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Indicted Dayton officer remains free without bond
DAYTON — Dayton Police Officer Phillip Brooks Sr., accused of illegally selling three impounded cars, remained free on his own recognizance after an arraignment Thursday morning, June 4.
Brooks and his attorney Daniel O’Brien stood mute during the brief hearing, and Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael L. Tucker entered not guilty pleas into the record.
By allowing Brooks to remain free without posting bond, the judge was following the recommendation of the court’s pre-trial services division, which found that Brooks was not a flight risk, O’Brien said.
Brooks, 43, who was indicted May 21 on 22 counts, has been suspended indefinitely without pay since April 13, according to Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl.
Brooks was indicted on: seven counts of forgery, eight counts of tampering with records, three counts of unauthorized use of the database, two counts of grand theft, one count of attempted grand theft and one count of theft in office.
Brooks allegedly used a confidential police database to determine the owner of vehicles that had been towed or impounded, according to the county prosecutor’s office. Brooks then used that information to forge a fake bill of sale and had a new title issued in his name. He would then sell the vehicles.
During a May 22 press conference, O’Brien said the witnesses against Brooks were “known crackheads” and “admitted serial liars.” He also said that his handwriting experts would show that Brooks did not sign the documents.
The 22-count indictment involves three cars: a 1994 Nissan Brooks allegedly sold in November 2004, a 1997 Pontiac he allegedly sold in August 2007, and an unidentified vehicle he allegedly tried to sell in December 2008.
Brooks faces up to 59 years in prison if convicted.
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