CASH SEIZED IN DRUG CASE NETS $25 MILLION FOR MONROE

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office got its cut of a drug-smuggling empire on
Monday -- $25 million found stashed away in secret accounts across the
world.

The money was half of an estimated $50 million seized in 1998 from drug
smuggler Paul Hindelang. That was the largest cash seizure in U.S Customs
history.

Investigators spent years hunting down the money from Hindelang and two
others involved in the drug ring: Colombian druglord Julio Nasser-David and
South Florida smuggler Joe Harry Pegg.

Monroe County can thank Hindelang for their cut.

When Hindelang was convicted in New Orleans in 1981 for importing tons of
marijuana, he was ordered to make a full accounting of his drug-related
assets. He gave about $640,000, but hid millions more, agents said.

With interest and investments, the fortune grew to $50 million by last year,
when investigators caught up with Hindelang, who had become a private
businessman in Van Nuys, Calif.

That $50 million went to the U.S. Customs office in South Florida, which on
Monday gave half to the Monroe County Sheriff. That's because Monroe
Detective Chuck Visco and Customs Special Agent Linda Hunt spent more than
six years tracking the previously undisclosed assets of Pegg, Hindelang,
their pilots, boat captains and other associates.

Monroe County Sheriff Richard Roth said he will use the money for a new
juvenile detention center. The money also will help replace the Upper Keys
substation, which was built in 1956, Roth said.

Damian P. Gregory can be reached at 305-810-5001