SEATTLE -- Nineteen men, including three Americans, have pleaded guilty to federal drug smuggling charges stemming from the June 30 capture of a ship carrying 72 tons of high-grade Thai marijuana off the Washington coast.
Plea agreements with stipulated prison sentences ranging from six months to 10 years were accepted Friday by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in return for the defendants' cooperation in prosecuting the alleged mastermind of a smuggling ring believed to have shipped hundreds of thousands of tons of marijuana to the West Coast since 1976.
The alleged kingpin, Brian Peter Daniels, a U.S. citizen who has lived mostly in Bangkok the past 15 years, was arrested July 25 in Zurich, Switzerland, where he remains subject to extradition. Three other suspects are still at large.
Daniels, 42, a New York native and formerly of Long Beach, Calif., was indicted earlier Friday in San Diego for allegedly smuggling $200 million worth of marijuana in three multi-ton shipments -- two that came ashore in California and a third in Canada, in 1986 and 1987.
He was described by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Allard as 'one of the major Thai suppliers in the world.
If convicted of the charges contained in the 10-count Seattle indictment, Daniel will face a maximum four life terms and 49 years behind bars, plus forfeiture of millions of dollars in drug-finance property.
The Encounter Bay, a 187-foot Panamanian-registered oil rig supply vessel, was fired upon and seized June 30 by the Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell approximately 400 miles off the Washington Coast.
Authorities found an estimated $280 million worth of marijuana wrapped in 8,152 canvas boxes on board, each containing vacuum-packed kilograms of the drug. Assistant U.S. attorney Peter Mueller said Friday that 42 tons were found in four unlocked containers in the vessel's hold and another 30 tons were found on deck hidden beneath camouflaged tarp.
The government alleges the marijuana was shipped from Bangkok to the South China Sea aboard another vessel, the 165-foot Meridian, and then loaded aboard the Encounter Bay with the aid of Vietnamese Army soldiers off the coast near DaNang.
Court documents contend that Samuel J. Colflesh, owner of the vessel, and his twin brother, Robert, played roles in the smuggling scheme. Both men are former Army Green Berets who remained in Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War and operated a bar, the Superstars, in Bangkok.
Robert Colflesh was arrested at the bar about a month after the seizure of the Encounter Bay and the 18 crewmembers on board.
The seizure culminated a four-year investigation and an undercover operation that began April 13 when two federal DEA agents posing as Northwest fishermen met with the two brothers in Hong Kong to arrange the shipment, prosecutors said. Attorneys say Daniel also was present at a later meeting on May 5.
Instead of meeting the agent's fishing boat at the rendezvous point, the Encounter Bay was met by the Boutwell. Coast Guard personnel fired on the vessel but no one was injured.
Attorneys for the Colfleshes agreed Friday to 10-year sentences with no parole for their clients. Under separate agreements with prosecutors, Jeffery B. Press of New Zealand, identified as the ship's captain, will receive a 7-year sentence.
Other defendants identified as 'officers' aboard the Encounter Bay, their nationality and their stipulated sentences were: Terrance A. Nolan, Australia, five years; Gary Michael Robinson, New Orleans, up to five years; Anthony G. Sayers, Australia, one year and a day. Pete Mair, an attorney for Sayers, 54, said the relatively light sentence given his client took into account Sayers heart condition and his cooperation in helping to obtain pleas from the other 18 defendants.
All of the remaining crew members from Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong entered their pleas in return for six-month sentences, with the exception of the chief engineer, who also received a year and a day. All of the defendants will be formally sentenced by Coughenour Oct. 24 and face fines in addition to prison time. ---
In the San Diego case, Daniels was charged with arranging a shipment of 17 tons that came ashore near San Francisco in 1986, a 14-ton cargo off-loaded near Santa Barbara last year and 22 tons smuggled ashore in Canada last year.
All three shipments, with a combined value of approximately $200 million, were allegedly carried in small freighters.
Allard said Daniels was contacted by drug smugglers in Bangkok and paid in advance for cargoes of potent Asian marijuana. Authorities in Seattle believe Vietnamese soldiers often helped load the ships off the Vietnamese coast because of the area's relative isolation compared to Thailand, where the drug was grown.
Prosecutors alleged that Daniels also received a cut of the profits once the marijuana was sold in the United States.
'There is no doubt that this individual amassed millions through his drug trafficking,' said Allard.
The capture of the Encounter Bay was made under recently enacted federal law allowing the U.S. jurisdiction over drug-laden ships near its territorial waters. As a result of the Encouter Bay boarding, the law has been challenged and is expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
