By MATT MILNER Courier staff writer
July 24, 2008 10:27 am
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DES MOINES — The case against 10 defendants accused of running a major drug ring in Ottumwa moved into the federal courts Wednesday in Des Moines.
It’s a big case. But a federal agency conceded it nearly blew the case before any arrests ever took place.
Mark Cory, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency, said during testimony an informant purchased guns from suspect David Horvath on two different occasions. The purchases also included a bulletproof vest. Other gun purchases came from fellow suspect Israel Joubert.
Investigators handed the guns over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“In June … the ATF sent an asset forfeiture notification to one of the defendants in the case,” Cory said. “That caused problems for us.”
Authorities say the notification allowed the ring to identify one of the informants. Cory accused Joubert of confronting the informant on at least two occasions after the federal notice about the seized guns. He quoted Joubert as telling the informant, “Get gone or you’ll be gone.”
The ring’s response included working back along the informant’s past to try and confirm the informant’s activities.
“We received information that Mr. Joubert and [James] Edwards were actively visiting the confidential source’s prior places of employment,” in an attempt to find out more about the informant, Cory said.
The informant received a text message saying that if he needed a place to stay, James Edwards had “a small room” out back. He told investigators he was being threatened and believed his life was in danger.
That text message threat came from James Edwards, the man Cory described as second only to William Edwards in the drug trafficking organization. James Edwards’ attorney tried to neutralize the issue by drawing attention to his client’s property, which includes a small structure to the rear of the house.
The judge concluded the message was ambiguous, that both menacing and innocuous interpretations are plausible.
Other threats were less veiled. Cory claimed suspect Derek O’Neal specifically threatened to kill the informant if he found out he was working for police. He described a confrontation in which O’Neal reached into a back pocket while confronting the informant. The informant thought O’Neal was reaching for a gun and pointed a shotgun at him. O’Neal left.
The informant is currently “in a safe place,” Cory said.
O’Neal’s attorney attacked Cory’s account. He probed the connection between federal agents and the informant, whom Cory said is paid by the Southeast Iowa Inter-Agency Drug Task Force. The attorney questioned the chain of communications from the informant, through his handlers, through the task force and finally to Cory.
Investigators say Joubert’s relationship with the Edwards brothers goes back to when they were teenagers, and that he also brought cocaine back to Ottumwa from Chicago. O’Neal’s ties to the brothers go back nearly as far.
The accusations of gang ties expanded during Wednesday’s proceedings. Cory described James and William Edwards as “founding members” of the Insane Deuces, a violent Chicago street gang. He said Horvath, O’Neal and Mario Gadberry are also members of the gang, though Horvath claims membership in the Disciples gang.
Investigators reported using a tracking device to follow James Edwards’ vehicle as it traveled between Ottumwa and Chicago to pick up cocaine and bring it back to southeast Iowa. The trips took place every one or two weeks. Investigators had the Illinois State Patrol stop James Edwards’ vehicle on one trip and a drug-sniffing dog indicated drugs were present in the car. The authorities found cocaine in the trunk.
Meanwhile, suspect Jerry Miller’s attorney disputed investigators’ assertion that Miller is “a top dog in the organization.” He said the amount of cocaine investigators can tie to Miller is miniscule in comparison to the amount brought back to Iowa. Cory responded that Miller told investigators about his involvement in sales that far exceed those specified in the complaint.
Each defendant, with the exceptions of Gadberry, Marlon Rust and Rafael DeLazaro, who waived their detention hearings, asked the court for pre-trial release. The judge Wednesday did release Sandra Lee Piedlow, who is in custody of her parents.
The judge is still considering requests from Horvath and Miller, whose release prior to the trial date remains possible. The other defendants remain in custody.
William Edwards, the alleged ringleader, was not at either session on Wednesday. Trial is currently set for Sept. 29.
Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mwmilner@mchsi.com
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