INDICTMENTS CRACK DRUG RING WITH PENINSULA BASE

NEWPORT NEWS -- A federal indictment charges 32 people with importing
more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana and 40 kilograms of cocaine to
Virginia and other areas of the country.

To avoid police, couriers sometimes drove the drugs across the
country in cars carrying women and children and bearing
``pro-family'' bumper stickers, according to a 168-page indictment
unsealed Wednesday.

George Franklin Haugen, formerly of Poquoson, is accused of being one
of two kingpins in the operation. The indictment alleges that Haugen
received, stored and packaged drugs at a waterfront home.

The other man charged as a kingpin, Anthony Joseph Pacheco, shipped
the drugs from Albuquerque, N.M., to southeastern Virginia, according
to the indictment. Some drugs also were sent to Harrisonburg and
Staunton, Va., and Chicago, Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

``This is a significant drug trafficking and money laundering
operation that has been dismantled,'' said Fernando Groene, an
assistant U.S. Attorney. ``It will make a significant impact both on
the supply side in New Mexico and the demand side here.''

Police were rounding up 32 people charged with 122 counts in two
separate indictments.

The drug ring's activities stretch back to at least 1996, according
to the indictment.

The indictment says members of the drug ring traveled to foreign
countries, but Groene would not say what country or where the drugs
originated.

Typically, the drugs were later shipped from New Mexico to Virginia
either in packages sent by Federal Express or UPS, or by couriers in
the cars, authorities said.

The ring kept houses around southeastern Virginia where the drugs
would be repackaged and sold. There were five stash houses in Newport
News and one each in Hampton, Poquoson and Gloucester County,
according to the indictment.

The drug ring set up businesses around the country to receive the
drugs. Several packages were sent to International Hong Kong Tailors,
a business in Norfolk, according to the indictment. The drug money
also crossed the country through packages and couriers and was often
deposited in accounts set up in the name of fake businesses, the
indictment said.

Groene could not say how much money the drug ring netted, but the
indictment called for the seizure of more than $8.5 million in
profits.