CARIBBEAN-VIRGINIA COCAINE RING CRACKED, FEDERAL INDICTMENT SAYS

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A federal grand jury has charged five Newport News men
with participating in an international drug cartel that moved large amounts
of cocaine and cash between the tiny Caribbean island
of Curacao to the Virginia Peninsula.

The 80-count indictment also charges two Florida men with cocaine
distribution and other cocaine-related charges.

Charlesworth Everton Tonge, 39, of Coral Springs, Fla., and David Algernon
Joseph, 35, of Miami, allegedly arranged purchases of cocaine on the island
in the Netherlands Antilles and smuggling the contraband through Puerto
Rico to Miami, a federal official said.

"Tonge was the person with the connection to the supplier in Curacao," said
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Everhart. "After the cocaine reached Florida,
portions were delivered to the Peninsula via car and commercial airline."

Everhart said once the cocaine reached the Peninsula, it was either sold as
powder or processed into the derivative crack.

The indictment charges Aaron Keith Convington, 26, of the 600 block of
Dresden Drive; Lucien Roberts, 32, of the 100 block of Garfield Drive; Billy
Lamont Rouser, 23, of the 2800 block of Marshall Drive; and Pedro Santos
Jr., 25, of the 100 block of 41st Street with multiple counts of conspiracy
to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Tonge, Joseph and Roberts also are charged with conspiracy to import, and
Convington and Roberts also are charged with money laundering.

Roberts, Grumbs, Covington and Santos have been arrested and face a
detention hearing today at 2 p.m. Everhart said she classified the Newport
News suspects "mid-to upper-level dealers."

The Peninsula Narcotics Task Force, a group of officers from Newport News,
Hampton and Poquoson police departments and the Virginia State Police,
spent the last 18 months investigating the drug ring. The U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, FBI and U.S.
Customs Service assisted.

The 50-page indictment documents the activities of the seven suspects since
January 1996 to the date of the indictment, including travels to Curacao,
Florida, and Newport News. Authorities said Tonge received the drug proceeds
and deposited them into bank accounts. On a single day in January 1997, he
deposited $48,700 at a bank near Fort Lauderdale, the indictment says.

The amounts of cocaine handled by the Newport News suspects varied from a
few ounces to several pounds.

Several of the suspects used the cash to buy or lease cars, lease an
apartment and, in one case, put a down payment on a house.

But not every dollar went to buy cars or property. Covington and Rouser
allegedly paid $12,000 to induce a man they were accused of shooting in
October 1997 to recant his statement to police. The victim had identified
both Covington and Rouser as his attackers.

The assailants also robbed the man of his gold teeth and after shooting him,
dumped him from a car on the Interstate 64 ramp near Kiln Creek. In May
1998, while Covington was in the Newport News jail, he "arranged by
telephone for Pedro Santos Jr. to distribute narcotics from the residence of
an unindicted co-conspirator," the
indictment says.

Police have seized $2,450 in cash, five vehicles and a motorcycle allegedly
purchased with drug proceeds.

"Several of the men have a Caribbean connection, but precisely what that
connection is we do not know," said Everhart. "There were a lot of people
who performed various roles in this conspiracy, some as couriers between
Curacao, Florida, and the Peninsula."

If convicted, the seven could receive life in prison, she said.