INVESTIGATORS BUST MARIJUANA RING, SEIZE $1 MILLION

JACKSONVILLE -- (AP) -- A drug organization that moved more than 3
tons of Mexican marijuana between Arizona and Jacksonville for more
than a decade was broken up by law enforcement agencies.

Investigators have seized 400 pounds of marijuana and $1 million in
cash and property so far, including a 1955 Ford Thunderbird worth
$29,000 and a framed photograph of Babe Ruth from the 12-car garage
of the suspected drug ringleader's home.

Andrew Osmo Sulkala's home was raided because of his orchestration of
a 12-year-old drug ring, U.S. Attorney Jim Klindt said at a news
conference Friday.

Sulkala, 35, and seven others are accused of transporting the
marijuana from Phoenix by concealing it in false bottoms built into
pickup trucks and recreational vehicles, including pontoon boats,
Klindt said. Sometimes the marijuana was stashed inside air compressor
tanks.

Sulkala and five other men were arrested Thursday on charges of
conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Two others were arrested last
month. All are named in a nine-count indictment returned May 6 by a
federal grand jury.

"This is the biggest marijuana organization that we've taken on in the
last five years in northeast Florida," Klindt said. "It will make a
dent in the market."

Arrested were James Major Solomon, 32; Samuel Weirs, 38; Richard
Vrooman, 31; and Pepi Barone, 34, all of Jacksonville; Timothy Wayne
Phillips, 25, of Middleburg; and Paul Delacruz Riojas, 43, and Antonio
Leyva Jr., 39, both of Phoenix.

The three-year investigation by 11 law enforcement agencies involved
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service
and sheriff departments in Duval, Clay and Baker counties. More
arrests are expected in the next few weeks.

Riojas and Leyva are accused of buying the marijuana from contacts in
Mexico and coordinating the delivery to Sulkala and others in
Jacksonville, Chicago and Boston.

Once the marijuana arrived in northeast Florida, it was kept in stash
houses in Duval and Clay counties, officials said.