DRUG TRAFFICKER GETS 7 YEARS, LOSES HOME

A Grass Valley carpenter went for the so-called "easy" money in narcotics
trafficking and earned himself seven years in prison and the loss of his
home.

Robert Bruce Asquini was portrayed by his lawyer as an otherwise
responsible, law-abiding citizen who impulsively, albeit foolishly, allowed
his residence to be used for what he thought would be the short-term
storage of several pounds of marijuana.

It turned out to be 41/2 to 5 tons of vacuum-packed Thai stick with a
wholesale value of $27 million, some or all of which was stored in
Asquini's house between the fall of 1995 and the spring of 1996. Asquini
was paid $45,000 of the $75,000 he was promised by the leader of a drug
distribution ring.

San Francisco attorney Richard Mazer urged 30 months of custody for
Asquini, much of it in a halfway house or home detention. Mazer also asked
that his client be allowed to pay the government $12,500 in lieu of
forfeiting the house.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Twiss argued persuasively at a Friday
hearing that significant parts of Mazer's sentencing memorandum "were
simply bald-face lies," and U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr.
imposed the punishment sought by Twiss.

At the close of the hearing, Burrell told Mazer and Asquini that the
"credibility problems" created by the defense's memorandum was a factor in
his decision to go to the 87 months at the top of the range prescribed by
sentencing guidelines.

The judge ordered Asquini, 44, to surrender on July 13, which will allow
him to be at his daughter's July 5 wedding. Asquini is divorced and has had
custody of his daughter, now 18, since she was 5.

He pleaded guilty in April 1997 to possessing for distribution the 11/2
tons of marijuana that he still had when he was arrested April 13, 1996.
Twiss said Friday it is believed to be the largest seizure of Thai stick in
the history of the 34-county federal judicial district based in Sacramento.

The defense memorandum describes Asquini as "astonished when a (16-foot)
U-Haul truck appeared at his house. The storage, however, had become a
[I]fait accompli. [/I]He was not involved in any way with the scope of the
marijuana scheme that came to his doorstep."

However, Twiss pointed out that, by Asquini's own account to federal
authorities, the 3,000 pounds of marijuana covered by his plea bargain was
part of a second load delivered to his house. The first ton-and-a-half load
already had been picked up by the distributors.

"How could he not understand the scope of the operation at the time of the
second delivery?" Burrell demanded.

Mazer replied that the reference in the memorandum was to the first
delivery, but the document didn't say that.

"He was essentially a 'go-fer,' one who acted at the direction of others
and who, in comparison, profited little in the scheme," Mazer wrote in a
second sentencing memorandum.

Twiss countered that, while the marijuana was stored at Asquini's the
distributors repackaged and resealed some of the bags broken in transit and
Asquini assisted by traveling to Sacramento to pick up a sealing machine
and bottled nitrogen gas.

"Given the nature and duration of (Asquini's) criminal conduct, I do not
see his behavior as aberrant," Burrell declared.

Forfeiture of the home was not warranted, Mazer argued, because only two
rooms were used in the narcotics operation.

Twiss fired back that, taking into account telephone calls and face-to-face
conversations among co-conspirators, along with the kingpin's stay of
several days at the residence, "this entire property was involved in drug
trafficking."

Burrell further found that storing the marijuana "put the whole community
at risk of violence, which we all know often accompanies drug trafficking."

Copyright ) 1998 The Sacramento Bee

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)