INVESTORS PLAN TO ATTEND DRUG TRIAL FOR PREWETT

SARASOTA COUNTY - Daniel Prewett's trial on federal charges that he
laundered drug money will have nothing to do with the dozens of former
investors who say he ripped them off for millions.

But the trial starting Monday -- and the possibility of life in prison for
Prewett -- might be the only chance for the investors to see him suffer
some sort of consequences.

They are last in line to claim Prewett's remaining assets in bankruptcy
court, where there are $36 million in claims against Prewett personally,
and even more against his company, J.H. Investment Services.

Properties they thought they invested in have been auctioned off, the
proceeds set aside likely going to repay the government and bank claims.

And federal prosecutors say the extradition laws used to bring Prewett back
to the United States -- he fled to Italy after being arrested in a drug
sting -- will prohibit them from bringing new charges against Prewett
related to investment fraud. In lawsuits, dozens of his former clients
claim he scammed them out of large sums of money.

So former investor Hugh Hall of Sarasota plans to drive to Tampa for the
trial, set to last three days, "just to get the satisfaction of seeing him
sweat."

"This guy's destroyed us," said Hall, who says Prewett took him for
$150,000. "I want to see him get it."

Prewett was a felon with a tax fraud conviction when he moved to Florida in
1992. Despite his criminal record, he ran several Jackson Hewitt tax
preparation franchises for years.

At the tax preparation offices, Prewett helped clients avoid millions in
taxes by illegally hiding their money, according to court records filed by
the Internal Revenue Service, which is suing him for $138 million.

The tax office was also a springboard for Prewett's investment company.
Former clients say he pitched them sure-fire opportunities that turned out
to be scams.

Prewett's main office on Beneva Road was also where undercover DEA agents
met Prewett in August.

Prewett offered to use fake loans to launder money from cocaine deals for a
10 percent fee, federal prosecutors say.

Agents also say Prewett admitted to wiring $80,000 to DEA agents so Luciano
Angrilli, the manager at a club Prewett owned, could purchase more than 20
pounds of cocaine with another man, Michael Parsons.

Parsons pleaded guilty to a cocaine distribution conspiracy charge and was
sentenced to four years in prison. Angrilli pleaded guilty and fled --
prosecutors guessed to Italy -- before his sentencing, where he faced more
than 10 years in prison.

Prewett has said in court records that agents entrapped him. He wrote that
from a jail in Italy, where he fled but was stopped for a traffic violation
and arrested.

U.S. marshals brought him back to the United States to face the money
laundering charges in December.

Court records state the investigation into Prewett started with a tip that
he provided money to buy large amounts of cocaine and ecstasy through Angrilli.

At a meeting at the Ritz-Carlton, two informants gave Angrilli a peek at
$200,000 in cash, and Angrilli set up a meeting with Prewett, the court
records state.

Prewett was recorded discussing ways he could launder the money and
transfer it to a bank account, records show.

An undercover DEA agent delivered $100,000 of supposed drug money to
Prewett two times with the informants, and both times Prewett wired $90,000
to an undercover DEA account from an account belonging to J.H. Investment
Services Inc., the records show.

In the trial, prosecutors will present bank records as well as federal and
local drug investigators. And they plan to introduce evidence of Prewett
posting his $1 million bond and fleeing the country.

Like more than 60 households or companies, Robert and Terri Heidger of
Sarasota are trying to get their money back through civil lawsuits against
Jackson Hewitt.

The Heidgers say they think Prewett belongs in prison, but the drug trial
is not enough.

"I'm angry," Robert Heidger said. "If anything, he embezzled all this money
from people, I would prefer he was going to trial for that."