wmlro.com: charges dropped in laundering case
Criminal charges have been dropped in a New Jersey case after a settlement in a civil court. The ripples reach into Bermudan politics.
Prosecutors in Morris County, New Jersey have dropped criminal charges against Dennis Pamplin, 59, of New Rochelle, New York., Mark Small, 31, of Elmont, New York, and Ronald Ellis, 29, of Deltona, Florida, according to local media.
Pamplin is currently awaiting trial on charges in Manhattan relating to a raid on a warehouse in March this year in which approx 300 kg of marijuana was found. The Federal charges allege that Pamplin is a large scale importer of drugs into Bermuda.
That is causing interest in Bermuda where his wife, Patricia J. Gordon-Pamplin, is deputy leader of the main opposition political party, The United Bermuda Party and Shadow Minister of Works and Engineering
The three were arrested in August 2007 when police were called to what had been reported as a road rage incident causing danger to other road users. Pamplin said that he and Ellis withdrew USD110,745 from the accounts of a company they ran together, removing asbestos. The money, they said, was to buy "music equipment" from Small. However, Small, they said, took most of the money and then drove away without handing over the equipment. So they gave chase.
But when they were stopped, police sniffer dogs marked their pockets which were found to be stuffed full of cash. That cash later tested positive for narcotics.
Last week, a civil case was settled on the basis that they gave up all rights to the money. That day, the Morris-County Prosecutor withdrew the money laundering charges. A statement issued by the County Prosecutor, Robert Bianchi, says that the withdrawal of the charges was not a pre-condition of the agreement to allow the money to be forfeited. He says, that the State District Attorney's consent is required to prosecute and it refused that consent - advising that civil forfeiture be pursued instead.
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