Agencies get loot from smuggling case

More than $1 million seized by a task force as part of a cigarette smuggling investigation was distributed Thursday to five law enforcement agencies.

“The focus of the forfeiture program is to take the profit out of crime,” said U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt, who made the check presentations in an afternoon ceremony at the U.S. Courthouse in Spokane.

Joining him were Kenneth J. Hines, special agent in charge with the Internal Revenue Service, and Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent in charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.

The money was distributed as part of a federal forfeiture program which shares money seized in criminal cases with local law enforcement agencies that assist in federal investigations, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice.

The money can’t be used to replace an agency’s operating budget funds. It can be used for purchase of new equipment and vehicles, training, overtime and rewards.

Agencies and the amounts received were: Washington State Liquor Control Board, $756,958; Washington State Patrol, $89,157; Law Enforcement Against Drugs (LEAD) Task Force, $76,421; Yakima City-County Narcotics Unit, $76,421; and Toppenish Police Department, $38,210.

The forfeitures were generated through the prosecution and subsequent guilty pleas to racketeering from Louie Mahoney, 58, Margaret Jose, 61, and Christine Mahoney-Meyer, 55, all of Plummer, Idaho; Gerald George, 58, and Lyle W. Conway, 70, both of Fife, Wash.; Lyle Shawn Conway, 34, of Tacoma; and Kathleen Mahoney, 58, of Walla Walla.

Others arrested in the case who pleaded guilty to trafficking in contraband cigarettes and/or money laundering were: Peter Mahoney, 53, and Peggy Mahoney, 37, both of Plummer; David Bean, 38, of Tacoma; Harvey Davis, 77, of Union Gap, Wash.; John Hunter, 63, of Wapato, Wash.; and Mark Van’t Hul, 44, of Montana.