Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2002
Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
Copyright: 2002 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact:  http://www.timesunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
Author: Andrew Tilghman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

WIRETAPS PRODUCE DRUG CHARGES

Albany -- Indictment Alleges Dirt Race Car Team Owner, Others, Sold 
Hundreds of Pounds of Marijuana

The owner of a racing team at the Lebanon Valley Speedway and six others 
are facing federal charges that they sold hundreds of pounds of marijuana 
in the Capital Region and western Massachusetts.

Closing a yearlong federal wiretap investigation, authorities arrested 
seven people -- one in New York, three in Massachusetts and three in 
Arizona -- last week, and also seized cars, cash and real estate worth more 
than $1 million. A federal grand jury indicted the suspects Wednesday.

On Thursday, two men -- Thomas Overbaugh, 40, owner of Overbaugh 
Motorsports who lives in Hancock, Mass., and Bernard O'Neil, of Stephentown 
- -- pleaded not guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to 
possess and sell marijuana.

Federal agents said they found $262,972 in cash stored behind a wall in the 
Rensselaer County home that O'Neil rents from Overbaugh. The government 
plans to seize the Stephentown property, a mountaintop estate estimated to 
be worth more than $800,000.

Prosecutors said from 1998 to 2002 the men purchased between 400 and 700 
pounds of Mexican-grown marijuana from a man in Arizona, who would 
periodically deliver the drugs to a "stash house" in the Columbia County 
town of New Lebanon. The local men allegedly sold the marijuana in 
multiple-pound bundles to local drug dealers.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Randolph Treece set bail for Overbaugh and O'Neil at 
$300,000. If convicted on the single count of conspiracy to sell drugs, the 
men could face up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Overbaugh, the father of two children ages 11 and 9, also is the owner of 
Taconic Valley Trucking Co. in Pittsfield, a hauling company with about 40 
employees serving upstate New York and western Massachusetts. The trucking 
business has fallen deeply in debt, and Overbaugh "was using marijuana 
money to make payroll at his business," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard 
Hartunian said in court on Thursday.

Overbaugh's attorney, Dennis Schlenker of Albany, said last week's searches 
had found no large quantities of drugs in Overbaugh's home and said the 
government was pressing the flimsy case against Overbaugh "based on 
relationships with people he has had over the years."

As the owner of a racing team, Overbaugh sponsors two dirt race car drivers 
and employs a manager and crew members. The team fields entries at Lebanon 
Valley and at racetracks throughout upstate New York.

Also included in the federal indictment were two Pittsfield, Mass., 
residents. Shane Power, 31, and Charles Smith, 41, appeared in federal 
court in Springfield, Mass., on Wednesday and were released on $50,000 bail 
pending their arraignment in Albany.

Three others from Tucson, Ariz. -- Kevin Driscoll, 41, his wife, Terry 
Driscoll, 41, and James Womble, 41 -- are expected to appear today federal 
court in Tucson and may be extradited to Albany to face the charges.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager