The attorney for a Bethel man facing federal charges for allegedly heading up a drug ring that sold steroids and marijuana argued Wednesday in court that his client is a family man who doesn't pose a danger to the community.
"My client is concerned, quite frankly, about his children and his ability to have contact with them," attorney Peter Schaffer said in an unsuccessful attempt to have Mark Mansa released from federal custody.
Mansa, 46, has been held by federal authorities since his arrest on Feb. 24 on several charges including conspiracy to distribute both marijuana and anabolic steroids.
Mansa, who authorities said was arrested during a $60,000 marijuana deal, pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday during his arraignment in U.S. District Court.
Federal prosecutors have said Mansa headed up an illegal enterprise, including selling steroids to area high school athletes, and Mansa bragged about his associations with police officers in several area departments.
Schaffer said in court Wednesday that while most area police departments have denied the allegations, "I think he does know police officers."
But, the attorney added, there are no indications or comments made by prosecutors to suggest Mansa would use those contacts to "create a danger to the community."
Schaffer added that some of Mansa's codefendants in the case who have been released from federal custody have a history of criminal convictions and ties to both the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and organized crime.
The attorney asked that Mansa, who he said has no prior convictions or ties to criminal organizations, be released on a $500,000 bond and be subject to electronic monitoring while the case is pending.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Vizcarrondo said Schaffer had not presented any new evidence in his bond-reduction argument that could be considered by the court.
Vizcarrondo also discussed the weight of the evidence against Mansa that was collected through "physical surveillance," "controlled purchases" of steroids and "law enforcement eyewitnesses" who are willing to testify in the case.
"There is nothing new here except for finger pointing at the other defendants," Vizcarrondo said in court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons denied Mansa's bond request, stating there was nothing in the proposed release package that ensured Mansa would not pose a public danger.
Fitzsimmons said Mansa is charged with "very serious conduct" and if prosecutors are correct in their claims, he "engaged in a long period of time in a drug trafficking operation that his family and the community was apparently unaware of."
She added electronic monitoring would do little to prevent Mansa from continuing to engage in drug trafficking activities through the use of a telephone or other means.
"These offenses went on for too long and too far under the radar screen," Fitzsimmons said. "The court requires a lot more restrictions (for release) than I'm seeing here."
attorney for a Bethel man facing federal charges for allegedly heading up a drug ring that sold steroids and marijuana argued Wednesday in court that his client is a family man who doesn't pose a danger to the community.
international drug-smuggling operation centred in the Fraser Valley had nothing to do with the Hells Angels or any other B.C. gang, one of the convicted smugglers says.
An international drug-smuggling operation centred in the Fraser Valley had nothing to do with the Hells Angels or any other B.C. gang, one of the convicted smugglers says.
Jody York said the scheme to move thousands of kilos of marijuana across the U.S. border was hatched by a few friends who grew up together in the Abbotsford area.
York and several other B.C. men are to be sentenced in a Seattle courtroom March 25 after working out a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, who wants York behind bars for six years.
Washington state law-enforcement agencies have said that York's group, headed by convicted trafficker Rob Shannon, was working on behalf of the B.C. Hells Angels, a claim York denies. "We were never a gang or thought of ourselves as a gang. We were antigang. We hated most clubs and groups out there and never wanted to be a part of their drama or inner crap," York said in a letter to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Lasnik.
"As for working for the Hells Angels, nothing could be further from the truth. When I was involved, we wanted to stay as far away from them, due to a fight I had with a member in a night club. I just knew how they worked things. As for them or anyone else being involved with other people in this case, after I left, it is not, nor do I want to make it, my business.
