Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994 TAG: 9404200107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Joe Mott, an assistant U.S. attorney, told a federal jury Tuesday that Henson and nine other men conspired to form a pipeline that brought hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Texas to Southside Virginia.
Federal authorities believe the drug ring used cash from gambling houses and moonshine operations to buy drugs - about $7 million worth from 1989 to 1993 - and bring them into Henry and Pittsylvania counties.
"This case is really about greed," Mott told the jury. "These people would do anything for money. About the only thing missing from this case is sex."
The other nine defendants in the case have pleaded guilty to a variety of drug and firearms charges, but Henson elected to let a jury decide his fate. His trial in U.S. District Court in Roanoke is expected to continue until the end of the week.
If convicted, Henson could face life in prison, but Mott doesn't think the penalty would be that severe.
Henson was convicted in November of four counts of operating an illegal distillery made of 36 800-gallon casks. Henson denied building or operating the still, which was found about 100 yards from a house he rented at Smith Mountain Lake.
The case landed in federal court mainly because of its connection to the alleged drug ring.
Ace Franklin Prater, one of the nine defendants who have pleaded guilty, is expected to be the government's main witness against Henson.
Glenn Berger, Henson's attorney, urged the jury to be skeptical of Prater's testimony.
"[Prater] is the mastermind of all this criminality," he said. "There's no question that this is a guy that would do anything for money."
Berger said Prater and other government witnesses agreed to testify against Henson so federal authorities would give them a better plea bargain.
"They are not here out of the goodness of their heart," he said. "They want something."
During opening arguments Tuesday, Mott outlined the complicated history of the drug ring to the jury. All the people he named have pleaded guilty in the case except Henson and Bobby Manuel, who was not charged in the indictment because he's serving time on other federal charges.
According to the indictment, Manuel, better known by his nickname "Gravedigger," hired Prater in December 1989 to transport marijuana from San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas, back to Virginia.
During the next year, Prater made three or four trips, returning to Virginia with quantities varying from 100 to 300 pounds of marijuana.
Manuel then hired Luther Reeves Sigmon in November 1990 and paid him to ship marijuana from Texas, according to the indictment.
In January 1991, Sigmon's luck ran out, and he was arrested in Shelby County, Tenn., while carrying 245 pounds of marijuana. While he was in jail, though, Sigmon met Simon Lopez-Urquizo, another drug supplier from Texas.
In 1992, Sigmon and Prater made about seven trips to Texas to purchase marijuana from Lopez-Urquizo.
On Jan.6, 1993, police officers raided Henson's home, where they uncovered the illegal still, marijuana plants, traces of cocaine, numerous firearms and a large quantity of marijuana.
Henson was arrested and charged after the raid, but that did not stop him from continuing his illegal activities, Mott told the jury.
On May 17, 1993, an undercover police informant is alleged to have set up a deal to sell Henson 22 pounds of marijuana at $1,200 per pound. Henson was arrested two days later at Sigmon's house, where he was waiting for delivery of the marijuana, Mott said.
by CNB