Pubdate: Sat, 16 Jul 2016
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Press Democrat
Contact:  http://www.pressdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Paul Payne
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

RICKY ROSS FACES SONOMA COUNTY JUDGE IN DRUG CASE

Sonoma County prosecutors said Friday they still have not decided 
whether to bring charges against Los Angeles 
drug-trafficker-turned-author "Freeway" Ricky Ross, who was arrested 
last fall while driving on Highway 101 with $100,000 cash in his car.

No future court date was set for Ross, 56, who is out of custody and 
appeared before Judge Arthur Wick. He was "discharged," meaning he 
does not have to return to Sonoma County unless notified.

But prosecutors said an investigation is ongoing to see if Ross broke 
any laws. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing money related to 
the sale of a controlled substance and conspiring to commit a crime.

The cash was seized and remains in possession of local authorities.

Ross maintains he was planning to use it to buy land in Humboldt 
County and that he was pulled over because he is black.

His lawyer, Jai Gohel, said his client made money from a recently 
published memoir about being a drug kingpin in Southern California in 
the 1980s and '90s. He served 13 years in prison before his release in 2009.

Gohel said prosecutors have three years to decide whether to charge 
Ross, but it doesn't appear likely.

"I think the chances are pretty minimal but you never know," Gohel said Friday.

Ross has lodged a claim to get his money back, alleging he was 
illegally profiled and stopped without justification. The funds were 
legal and not derived from narcotics transactions, Gohel said.

The area where Ross was pulled over is known as the "gauntlet" in the 
marijuana trade, because police stop so many people traveling to or 
from well-established pot-growing centers to the north.

During the traffic stop, the sheriff's deputy told Ross he smelled 
marijuana, which allowed him to search the vehicle with a trained 
police dog, Gohel said. The dog found the cash. Ross said that he has 
a valid prescription for marijuana, according to published reports.

Ross received his nickname from living in properties he owned along 
the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles. He is said to have made hundreds 
of millions of dollars in the crack cocaine business before being 
sent to prison.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom