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NEW LEBANON -- Residents around this tiny town reacted with shock Friday, a
day after a local businessman and racing team owner was named as a leader
of one of the largest marijuana rings broken up in years.
"He had it made without doing that stuff," said Jim Thomas, a 39-year-old
Pittsfield resident and regular at the Lebanon Valley Speedway. "It came as
a surprise to everyone."
Meanwhile, federal officials said they planned to make a second wave of
arrests following the roundup of Thomas Overbaugh and six others this week
on charges that they brought hundreds of pounds of Mexican marijuana from
Arizona into upstate New York and western Massachusetts.
"This is not the end of it," said Bill Hebert, group supervisor of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration's Albany office. "There's going to be more
arrests in our area."
The biggest draw in this rural corner of Columbia County is the speedway
where Overbaugh, a 40-year-old father of two, was known as the only owner
of a two-car racing team. On the track on Thursday night, Overbaugh's
driver raced in a car that had been stripped of its Overbaugh Motorsports
logo, Thomas said.
A yearlong wiretap investigation led to the indictment in Albany federal
court Wednesday of seven accused marijuana dealers on a single count of
conspiring to buy and sell marijuana. The government plans to seize more
than $1 million in real estate, cash and cars from the group.
A couple who lived in Arizona and rented a home in New Lebanon, Kevin and
Terry Driscoll, both 41, appeared Friday in federal court in Tucson, Ariz.
They waived their extradition hearing and will be sent to Albany to answer
the charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said.
The seven defendants are accused of scheming to transport and deal between
400 and 700 pounds of marijuana from the Driscolls' home in Tucson to the
"stash house" they rented on Route 20 a few miles from the Massachusetts
border.
Overbaugh and a co-defendant who appeared in federal court with him on
Thursday, Bernard O'Neil, 41 of Stephentown, remained at Schenectady County
jail on Friday, held on $300,000 bail.
Overbaugh owns Taconic Valley Trucking, a hauling company in Pittsfield,
Mass., with 40 employees. Prosecutors said the firm is deeply in debt and
that Overbaugh used proceeds from marijuana trafficking to meet his payroll.
Surveillance of the New Lebanon home revealed O'Neil often dropping by and
leaving moments later with a bag, Hartunian said.
The Driscolls had rented the modest, midsize home in New Lebanon for more
than five years, and their landlord, Ralph Chittenden, who lived nearby,
said he knew nothing about their alleged drug activity. "All I knew is they
paid their rent," he said Friday.
Neighbors surrounding the alleged "stash house" along Route 20 recalled
occasionally seeing the motor home that belonged to James Womble of
Arizona, who also was indicted, in the driveway of the house.
"I never thought anything of it," said Pat Whitman, a 34-year-old New
Lebanon man who said he moved out of Albany's South End neighborhood
several years ago because of increased drug activity and related problems.
During a July 31 raid, federal agents found several pounds of marijuana but
made no large seizure of drugs. They did find more than $262,000 stowed
behind a wall in O'Neil's home, which prosecutors believe would be used to
pay for a new delivery.
Defendants Shane Power and Charles Smith, of Pittsfield, Mass., appeared in
federal court in Springfield, Mass., Wednesday and were released on $50,000
bail pending arraignment in Albany.
Federal officials have begun forfeiture proceedings against the seven
alleged drug runners, seeking to seize 10 cars, three properties and more
than $400,000 in cash uncovered in the raid.
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Aug 2002
Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
Copyright: 2002 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: tuletters@timesunion.com
Website: Home
Details: MapInc
Author: Andrew Tilghman
day after a local businessman and racing team owner was named as a leader
of one of the largest marijuana rings broken up in years.
"He had it made without doing that stuff," said Jim Thomas, a 39-year-old
Pittsfield resident and regular at the Lebanon Valley Speedway. "It came as
a surprise to everyone."
Meanwhile, federal officials said they planned to make a second wave of
arrests following the roundup of Thomas Overbaugh and six others this week
on charges that they brought hundreds of pounds of Mexican marijuana from
Arizona into upstate New York and western Massachusetts.
"This is not the end of it," said Bill Hebert, group supervisor of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration's Albany office. "There's going to be more
arrests in our area."
The biggest draw in this rural corner of Columbia County is the speedway
where Overbaugh, a 40-year-old father of two, was known as the only owner
of a two-car racing team. On the track on Thursday night, Overbaugh's
driver raced in a car that had been stripped of its Overbaugh Motorsports
logo, Thomas said.
A yearlong wiretap investigation led to the indictment in Albany federal
court Wednesday of seven accused marijuana dealers on a single count of
conspiring to buy and sell marijuana. The government plans to seize more
than $1 million in real estate, cash and cars from the group.
A couple who lived in Arizona and rented a home in New Lebanon, Kevin and
Terry Driscoll, both 41, appeared Friday in federal court in Tucson, Ariz.
They waived their extradition hearing and will be sent to Albany to answer
the charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said.
The seven defendants are accused of scheming to transport and deal between
400 and 700 pounds of marijuana from the Driscolls' home in Tucson to the
"stash house" they rented on Route 20 a few miles from the Massachusetts
border.
Overbaugh and a co-defendant who appeared in federal court with him on
Thursday, Bernard O'Neil, 41 of Stephentown, remained at Schenectady County
jail on Friday, held on $300,000 bail.
Overbaugh owns Taconic Valley Trucking, a hauling company in Pittsfield,
Mass., with 40 employees. Prosecutors said the firm is deeply in debt and
that Overbaugh used proceeds from marijuana trafficking to meet his payroll.
Surveillance of the New Lebanon home revealed O'Neil often dropping by and
leaving moments later with a bag, Hartunian said.
The Driscolls had rented the modest, midsize home in New Lebanon for more
than five years, and their landlord, Ralph Chittenden, who lived nearby,
said he knew nothing about their alleged drug activity. "All I knew is they
paid their rent," he said Friday.
Neighbors surrounding the alleged "stash house" along Route 20 recalled
occasionally seeing the motor home that belonged to James Womble of
Arizona, who also was indicted, in the driveway of the house.
"I never thought anything of it," said Pat Whitman, a 34-year-old New
Lebanon man who said he moved out of Albany's South End neighborhood
several years ago because of increased drug activity and related problems.
During a July 31 raid, federal agents found several pounds of marijuana but
made no large seizure of drugs. They did find more than $262,000 stowed
behind a wall in O'Neil's home, which prosecutors believe would be used to
pay for a new delivery.
Defendants Shane Power and Charles Smith, of Pittsfield, Mass., appeared in
federal court in Springfield, Mass., Wednesday and were released on $50,000
bail pending arraignment in Albany.
Federal officials have begun forfeiture proceedings against the seven
alleged drug runners, seeking to seize 10 cars, three properties and more
than $400,000 in cash uncovered in the raid.
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Aug 2002
Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
Copyright: 2002 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: tuletters@timesunion.com
Website: Home
Details: MapInc
Author: Andrew Tilghman
