Pubdate: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 Source: Portland Press Herald (ME) Copyright: 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. Contact: 50 Monument Square, Suite 302, Portland, ME 04101 Fax: (207) 879-1042 Website: http://www.portland.com/ Forum: http://www.portland.com/cgi-bin/COMMUNITY/netforum/community/a/1 Author: Grace Murphy, Portland Press Herald Writer EX-WELLS MEN TIED TO SERIES OF CRIMES Andrew Ross and Daniel Wentworth were making good money running hundreds of pounds of marijuana between Arizona and their home state of Maine, according to federal drug agents. But they got bored after a year of the low-risk operation. So the two former Wells men, with help from at least five friends, began posing as police officers or federal agents and robbing other drug dealers, authorities said. "They're pretending it's a drug bust, only nobody goes to jail. They're just ripping them off," said Jim Molesa, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency in Phoenix. Federal agents cracked a drug and robbery ring based in Phoenix on Wednesday, providing some answers to why the two ex-Mainers were crossing the country last month with weapons, cash, body armor and no identification. Their trip, which started with a police chase in Lebanon, Maine, on Dec. 9, ended with a police shootout on an Amtrak train platform in Chicago's Union Station. Police said the men were on their way to Phoenix, where they were part of a large drug and robbery operation. Ross, 25, was killed. Wentworth is recovering in a Chicago hospital and faces a murder charge. The Maine connections to the Phoenix crime ring continue to mount. On Wednesday, federal drug agents in Phoenix arrested Casey Fitzgerald, 23, and Freddie King, 39, both of Millinocket, on charges of conspiracy to possess marijuana for distribution. Christopher Parady, 23, of Sanford is being held without bail in York County Jail on a robbery and kidnapping charge involving the incident in Lebanon - a nighttime burglary at Gateway Auction on Route 202. Michael B. Sales, 25, of Bloomfield, Colo., is out on $3,000 bail awaiting a court appearance in connection with the same robbery. Lt. Ted Short of the Maine State Police said authorities are looking for one more Maine man connected to the Phoenix crime ring. Ross, 25, and Wentworth, 26, moved to Phoenix from Wells three years ago and began working in posh restaurants. Most of their money came from their drug-running operation, said Jim Molesa, a special agent with the DEA in Phoenix. The group would buy hundreds of pounds of marijuana in Phoenix and somehow ship it to Maine, Molesa said. Drug ledgers obtained in Maine show the group was moving hundred-pound quantities of marijuana on a monthly basis, he said. The drug ring could double its money by buying in Phoenix and selling on the streets of Portland, Molesa said. After about a year, the players apparently got bored, he said. "They graduated from that to an invasion crew," primarily picking on their criminal competitors in Maine, Molesa said. "They're victimizing an offender who doesn't have a recourse to say what they're doing or what happened," he said. Sometimes, they disguised themselves as police officers or federal agents by using fake badges and tactical jumpsuits, he said. "This is their level of new excitement," Molesa said. "It's not about the money. They're making money from this other operation." It was the burglary of Gateway Auctions that allowed authorities to eventually crack the ring. State police interrupted a burglary there Dec. 9 after making a routine traffic stop. Nobody was found, but police did recover a truck and a sports utility vehicle they believe were used in the burglary. Guns were found in the truck, and the SUV contained a bag of guns, a grenade launcher, tranquilizer guns, night-vision equipment, microphones used in tactical operations, masks, gloves, ammunition, firearms and cash. Police also found a duffel bag containing 26 handguns, rifles and shotguns outside the auction house. Police believe the suspects got away with $30,000 in cash, but had to leave behind the guns, weapons, jewelry and other items when the burglary was interrupted. Three days later, Wentworth and Ross paid cash for Amtrak tickets in Syracuse, N.Y., for Tucson, Ariz. Suspicious train agents - unaware of the Lebanon burglary or the Phoenix drug ring - notified a DEA drug team at Chicago's Union Station, where the two had to change trains. The pair, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying .40-caliber semi-automatic Glock pistols, extra ammunition, handcuff keys and $15,000 in cash, was confronted by a DEA agent on the train platform. Police began firing when one of the men pulled out a gun. Ross ended up dead, Wentworth was seriously injured, and a Chicago police officer was also shot. Police believe neither Wentworth nor Ross fired a shot, but Wentworth was charged with murder for allegedly starting the shooting that led to Ross' death. Officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced the guns back to people in Arizona who sold the marijuana to Wentworth and Ross, said Molesa. With help from DEA and ATF agents in Maine, drug agents in Phoenix arrested the two Millinocket men Wednesday. Fitzgerald and King, thought by police to be part of the same drug ring, showed up in a hotel parking lot to buy 200 pounds of marijuana for $180,000, Molesa said. They ended up getting arrested and were arraigned the same day. Back in Maine, Parady is in York County Jail awaiting a court appearance on a robbery charge and a kidnapping charge tied to the Lebanon robbery, said Short, of the state police. He said the kidnapping charge involves a man who was threatened with having his legs cut off if he didn't provide information about guns at Gateway Auction. The man, who police would not identify, was kept from leaving his home, Short said. He said the drug-and-robbery ring has cleared up an unsolved robbery in Waterboro, but countless others may never be solved because they were never reported. "The reality of it is, these people were looking for drugs, guns and money, and people aren't going to come forward and report to police that someone stole drugs from their residence," Short said. - --- MAP posted-by: GD