Man Faces Cocaine Charges Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former Restaurant Owner
The former owner of an Italian restaurant in Spokane faces arrest on a multiple-count federal indictment accusing him of selling cocaine.
Michael A. Godwin, 38, who operated Ristorante Spezia on West Francis, is charged with conspiracy to distribute more than a pound of cocaine.
He also is charged with distribution of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury, also seeks forfeiture of $22,621 in cash found last October when agents searched Godwin’s home at 3120 W. Circle Place.
Spezia closed last year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice said Tuesday that the search of Godwin’s Shadle Park home came after information had been provided to the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force.
Robert Dawson, a Spokane contractor arrested last August as part of the “Operation Doughboy” cocaine investigation, told authorities he had bought cocaine from Godwin, Rice said.
Dawson agreed to cooperate with investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Dawson bought 1-ounce quantities of cocaine from Godwin - for $1,100 an ounce - once or twice a week between November 1993 and October 1994, court documents allege.
They also say that as far back as May 1990, police had information suggesting that Godwin had been selling cocaine out of the Spezia restaurant.
He opened the restaurant in 1990 with a partner, George H. Kutulas, who had been convicted in U.S. District Court in 1981 of cocaine trafficking.
In that case, the former boxing manager boasted that he was the largest cocaine dealer in Spokane.
After a short prison term, Kutulas opened the Italian restaurant with Godwin at 420 W. Francis.
Local investigators for the Washington State Liquor Control Board recommended in 1990 that Godwin and Kutulas not be issued a state liquor license for their restaurant because of concerns about Kutulas’ criminal record and the reported sources of money used to start the restaurant, public records show.
A liquor board supervisor said in a Dec. 20, 1990, memorandum that staff investigators were aware of allegations that caused “us great concern” about the backgrounds of the applicants.
Still, the three-member Liquor Control Board in Olympia issued Spezia a liquor license. The public file doesn’t say why the local liquor board officials were overruled.
Kutulas told the Liquor Control Board in December 1988 that he had cash for the restaurant venture at a time he and his wife were receiving welfare.
Legal papers later were filed showing that Kutulas had relinquished his co-ownership in Spezia to Godwin. But Kutulas and other members of his family continued working at the restaurant.
After a welfare fraud investigation was concluded, Kutulas was convicted of first-degree theft in Superior Court in July 1991.