For The Past Five Years, Fernando Groene Has Been Leading Federal Prosecutions On The Peninsula. NEWPORT NEWS -- Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Groene has prosecuted some of the Peninsula's most notorious criminals - high-level drug dealers, money launderers, murderers, gun traffickers and white-collar thieves. On Sept. 26, trials will start in Norfolk for the remaining defendants in Operation Blowfish - a joint investigation of the Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The investigation exposed an international drug network that imported millions of dollars in cocaine and marijuana from Mexico, across the border to Texas and then into Hampton Roads and Richmond. [continues 932 words]
Some Ambitious HU Students Encounter The Dark Side Of What Police Say Are Drug-related Shootings. HAMPTON -- Five students left their homes along the East Coast four years ago to enroll at Hampton University, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious historically black colleges. Mostly they came from upper-middle-class families headed by doctors, lawyers, chemists and dentists. One student had an academic scholarship. They had attended private high schools, volunteered at hospitals and participated in internships over their summer vacations. [continues 2360 words]
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A federal grand jury has charged five Newport News men with participating in an international drug cartel that moved large amounts of cocaine and cash between the tiny Caribbean island of Curacao to the Virginia Peninsula. The 80-count indictment also charges two Florida men with cocaine distribution and other cocaine-related charges. Charlesworth Everton Tonge, 39, of Coral Springs, Fla., and David Algernon Joseph, 35, of Miami, allegedly arranged purchases of cocaine on the island in the Netherlands Antilles and smuggling the contraband through Puerto Rico to Miami, a federal official said. [continues 502 words]
