Guilty pleas expected in Roseburg drug ring
Ten men indicted as members of an international drug ring that sprouted in Roseburg, Ore., in the 1970s are expected to plead guilty in federal court in Boise in the coming weeks, prosecutors say.
The Roseburg High School students allegedly began by growing marijuana on public and private land in Douglas County and developed the operation into a cartel responsible for smuggling millions of dollars of illegal drugs into and across the United States.
Prosecutors say much of the activity took place in Idaho.
The men were arrested in September 2005.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Monte Stiles said all but three defendants had filed plea agreements or intended to this month.
The three men who had not – Greg Sperow, Lawrence Weitzman and Jerod Keyser – will face new indictments, according to court documents.
Kent A. Jones of Vancouver, Wash.; Dale E. Barker of Evergreen, Colo.; Mark D. Kitzman of Lake Oswego, Ore.; Gerald F. McDonald of Costa Mesa, Calif.; Harold C. Ballenger of Bend, Ore; Mark M. Alders of Lakeside, Ore; Robert D. Long of Eugene, Ore.; Damon J. Marsh of Portland; Mark W. Pursley of Vancouver; and Forest G. McDonald, hometown unknown, are expected to enter guilty pleas to drug or money-laundering charges or both, Stiles said.
Another defendant, Dennis Hammons, is being transported to Idaho from the East Coast.
Federal prosecutors want to seize millions of dollars in real estate, luxury vehicles, boats, airplanes and cash allegedly paid for with drug profits.
Those assets include houses and lots in Lake Oswego, Portland and Vancouver, as well as Oregon properties in Eugene, Roseburg, Bend, Hillsboro and Coos County.
The indictment mentions Jones, Sperow, Kitzman, McDonald, Hammons and Ballenger as the alleged leaders of a complicated criminal enterprise starting in 1975 and lasting until their indictment last fall.
Sperow is already in federal prison in California following discovery of marijuana in 1996 at Portland International Airport.
Ring members allegedly smuggled drugs from Latin America and grew marijuana and produced methamphetamine at several sites.
Profits were invested in real estate, “shell corporations,” stocks and businesses, according to the 66-page indictment.