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UPPER LAKE – Several North Coast residents are headed back to court this week in the latest action in a federal marijuana prosecution.
Tom Carter, 58, of Upper Lake; Scott Feil, 43, and his wife, Diana, 28, of Upper Lake and Redwood Valley; Steven Swanson, 59, of Sebastopol; and Brett Bassignani, 43, of Nice, are due in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco for a status report hearing on Thursday.
All of them were arrested in August as part of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration operation, as Lake County News has reported.
An indictment listing all five individuals alleges a variety of charges beginning on an unspecified date in 2002 and continuing until Aug. 18. However, the details of how all of the parties were alleged to have worked together isn't specified in court documents.
Carter and Bassignani both are facing charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, which carries a minimum 10-year sentence and $4 million fine, and distributing or possessing with intent to distribute marijuana, which carries a five-year minimum and a $2 million fine.
In May of 2006 Bassignani, who works for Carter's construction company, had reportedly agreed to sell more than 500 marijuana clones to two DEA agents and an informant, who also claimed that Carter was privy to the sale.
Scott and Diana Feil and Steven Swanson – Diana Feil's stepfather – are facing the same charges as Carter and Bassignani, with additional charges of conspiracy to launder money and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specific unlawful activity, with carry maximum penalties of 20 and 10 years, respectively, with fines of $250,000 per count (or twice the amount of property involved in the transaction).
The Feils and Swanson are accused of distributing more than 100 kilograms of marijuana between 2002 and 2008, according to court records.
In the latest 21-page indictment, the DEA also is seeking a massive property forfeiture from all of the subjects named in the case upon conviction.
The government is seeking properties in Redwood Valley, Upper Lake, Witter Springs, Willits and Ukiah, as well as hotels the Feils own – the Clarion Resort and Hotel and the Scottsfeild Executive Hotel in Eureka, and the Quality Inn and Tradewinds Bar & Grill in fort Bragg. Other property included on the prospective forfeiture list includes an airplane, speedboat, motorhome, two vehicles and a motorcycle, plus $80,000 in cash seized from Swanson on Aug. 18. The case is advancing just as last month Scott Feil won an important federal court case against the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a 20-page opinion filed on Oct. 20, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Los Angeles Police Department had failed to show probable cause when it conducted a search of United Medical Caregivers Clinic in Los Angeles, where Scott Feil had been chief executive officer of the time. He also operated a UMCC storefront in Ukiah.
The court found that the Los Angeles Police Department had left out evidence in its search warrant that UMCC may have been operating in compliance with state law.
“By omitting these facts, the LAPD misled a state judge into perceiving UMCC's conduct as criminal when, in fact, it was probably legal under California law,” according to the Ninth Circuit opinion.
The court further noted, “We are particularly concerned by the possibility that the LAPD might stand to profit from unlawful activity.”
That means that Feil is entitled to receive back approximately $186,416 in seized currency, plus 209 pounds of marijuana, 21 pounds of hashish and 12 pounds of marijuana oil taken during the seizure.
Feil has another case, filed in 2006, involving $131,132 in currency he's seeking from the US government.
A stay was placed on that case in September of 2007, noting Feil was the subject of another criminal investigation – apparently referencing the investigation that led to the August arrests – and that it would “adversely affect the government's ability to conduct the related criminal investigation.”
The case continues to be the subject of regular progress reports, according to court records.
It's unclear if the two forfeiture cases are separate or involve the same 2005 incident.
Feil's attorneys in both his civil and criminal cases haven't responded to requests for comment by Lake County News. Carter's attorney also did not respond to an inquiry.
Meanwhile, supporters of Carter – a longtime local contractor who has been involved in charity events and projects – are asking the community for letters of support for Carter that can be presented to the court.
Support letters can be faxed to 707-275-0116 or e-mailed to
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.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Hey DEA - why don't you target heroin which funds the Taliban? Or crank which funds the Mexican cartels? Oh, that's right - those guys shoot back.