JURY ACQUITS DRUG SUSPECT

It started when state police in Louisiana pulled over a commercial bus on
Interstate 10 because of safety violations.

Inside the baggage compartment, troopers found 523 pounds of marijuana
bound for Columbus, Ohio.

That was Wednesday, April 11. By Saturday, federal agents had dismantled a
sophisticated drug ring distributing cocaine and marijuana from Texas to
Pittsburgh, Columbus and elsewhere that used leased charter buses running
out of Houston.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents said 66-year-old Walter Higgs
of Finleyville was among the conspirators, but yesterday in federal court a
jury acquitted him of charges of conspiracy and possession of cocaine.

It was a rare loss for federal prosecutors here. Nearly all drug suspects
plead guilty, and those who go to trial are almost always found guilty.

"Thank you, Jesus!" yelled Higgs' daughter-in-law, whose husband, Eric
Higgs, pleaded guilty in the case on Monday and left his father to stand
trial alone.

"I was praying all day," said Walter Higgs as he left the courtroom in
chains, escorted by federal marshals. "He blessed me today."

Higgs was being held temporarily on a state detainer because his indictment
meant he had violated his parole on a previous state drug conviction. But
his attorney, Richard Schomaker, said he would be released.

The government's case against Higgs was based on circumstantial evidence. A
jitney driver who worked in Homestead and lived there part time, Higgs had
driven his son Eric to a Findlay hotel for an April 13 meeting with a
Jamaican national named "Mike," also known as Devon Fitzpatrick Levy, 31,
of Knoxville.

Eric Higgs had $327,000 in the back seat of the car to deliver to Levy in
exchange for 15 kilograms of cocaine. He didn't know that Levy, described
as the broker for the cross-country drug ring, was cooperating with the DEA.

Although Eric Higgs has admitted to dealing drugs, Walter Higgs said he was
just giving his son a ride and didn't know what was going on.

"The government has nothing except suspicion," Schomaker said in court.
"Mr. Higgs was nothing more than a jitney driver."

But prosecutors said he was in on the deal. Monitored cell phone calls from
the car between his son and Levy revealed a nervous Eric Higgs repeatedly
trying to back out of the meeting in the hotel.
At one point, the younger Higgs announced to Levy. "I'm here," when he
wasn't, a common tactic by drug dealers to see if police take the bait and
show themselves. He also told Levy he was antsy about meeting in the hotel
because there were "too many white people" hanging around.

The government argued that Walter Higgs was privy to all of those
conversations.

Despite the court loss, prosecutors already have four guilty pleas in a
case that developed much more quickly than most federal drug investigations.

After troopers in Louisiana stopped the first bus, DEA agents set up a
controlled delivery in Columbus with the help of the drivers. Just outside
that city, the drivers spotted another bus headed the other way on the
interstate and told agents it, too, was part of their ring.

That bus, driven by Mack Coleman, 52, and Edward James Grant, 56, both
professional bus drivers from Houston, was on its way to Pittsburgh. The
Ohio Highway Patrol stopped it and discovered 28 kilos of cocaine on a
seat. Coleman and Grant cooperated with DEA agents and explained that they
were on their way to deliver the coke to Levy at the Microtel Hotel in
Robinson Town Centre.

When the bus arrived, agents arrested Levy and seized the cocaine and about
$700,000 in cash.

Levy, who had paid a Houston bus company owner $35,000 to lease buses for
the scheme, agreed to cooperate and identified Vernon Sanders, 35, of
Houston, as his drug source. Using Levy to arrange meetings, agents set up
a series of busts on the night of April 13 and into the next morning at the
Best Western hotel near Pittsburgh International Airport.

Among those arrested were Walter and Eric Higgs, described by DEA as two of
Levy's local customers.

In addition to Eric Higgs and Levy, two other men have pleaded guilty: Drew
Bey, 36, of Sheraden and Kevin Trowery, 37, of Lincoln-Lemington. Both were
local customers. Coleman and Grant, who were paid a cut for their driving
services, are expected to plead guilty next week.

Sanders and another suspect, Glenmore Carey of Cooper City, Fla., are
scheduled for trial Aug. 1.
The owner of the bus company is being prosecuted in Texas.