FORMER BRECKENRIDGE MAN CHARGED WITH DISTRIBUTING 40 TONS OF POT

SUMMIT COUNTY - A 13-year investigation has led to the arrest and
indictment of 20 people - including Harry Trubonis, a former
Breckenridge-area resident who tried to open a strip club in various
parts of Summit County in the late 1990s.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported that a federal grand
jury in Detroit indicted Trubonis - he spelled his last name Trubounis
when he lived in Summit County - and 19 others this spring on charges
of conspiring to distribute more than 40 tons of marijuana and using
bribery in an attempt to obstruct the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins called the case the single largest drug
conspiracy indictment in Eastern Michigan history, and that the
indictments should cut the marijuana supply in Macomb County and
perhaps, throughout the state.

Officials would not speculate on the street value of the drugs, but
acknowledged it's millions of dollars. Based on one calculation, the
drugs would have a value of between $10 million and $20 million upon
arrival in the Detroit area before being divided up to sell in smaller
quantities.

Others charged in the investigation include ten Michigan residents,
four Californians, three Arizonans, a man from Nevada and another from
Florida.

Seven defendants are accused of trying to bribe others to "ensure
their silence" in the case.

In January, one of those involved in the dealings paid $35,000 that
was allegedly provided by Trubonis to "secure the silence" of another.

According to DEA officials, the ringleaders were Trubonis, who lists
his hometown as Newark, N.J., and Allen Ozdemir and Dale Sokolov of
Arizona.

The indictment indicates the three obtained drugs from Mexico and
transported them in large amounts to Detroit, where they were sold.

They initially used passenger cars to transport 200 to 400 pounds of
marijuana at a time, then progressed to heavy-duty pickup trucks with
enclosed trailers to transport amounts ranging from one to
one-and-a-half tons. Most recently, the indictment reads, the ring
used commercial moving vans to transport loads of one to two tons.

A break in the case occurred about two years ago when defendant Thomas
Nix, 25, of St. Peter Beach, Fla., was stopped in Iowa driving a
vehicle that contained $244,000 in cash, the indictment says.

Nix was en route to Las Vegas, where he was to meet with individuals
under Trubonis' orders and pay for a marijuana shipment.

A friend of Trubonis', Adam Rudziewicz of Breckenridge, said he knew
of Trubonis' arrest, but was unaware of any drug dealing the man might
have done.

"As you could imagine, it wasn't something that was even talked about
with his friends," he said, adding that Trubonis sometimes expressed
his opinion that America's marijuana laws were too stringent. "It was
obviously the money that kept him involved; it was such easy access."

Then-sheriff Joe Morales said he knew nothing of the investigation
when Trubonis lived in Summit County. He also doesn't recall Trubonis
ever getting into trouble with the law during his time here.

"He obviously took a risk, tried to go big," Morales said of the bust.
"It's too compromising. As soon as one gets caught, they're going to
flip on you to get out of trouble. It's a house of cards."

He admitted that a 13-year run was one of the longer stints he's heard
of, but that it was doomed to fail in the end.

If convicted, Trubonis and the others could face between five years to
life in prison and fines up to $4 million.

"The choices people make in their lives ..." Morales said. "It's going
to be costly. Most people move onto bigger and brighter things, not
the federal prison."

Law enforcement officials said the investigation took a long time
because of its complexity. It involved the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, Michigan State Police, Macomb County Sheriff, County
of Macomb Enforcement Team and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement
Task Force Program.