A former Crothersville police officer and another Crothersville man were among eleven southern Indiana residents who were indicted last Thursday by a federal grand jury in US District Court in Evansville.
Their arrests are part of an investigation into the distribution of marijuana and firearms in the area.
Those arrested include Freddie Joe Taylor, 42, of rural Vallonia in Washington County; his brother, Marion “Mac” Taylor, 23, of Crothersville; Zeferino Trejo, 35, of Seymour; Raymond McIntosh, 41, of Seymour; and Daryl Hickman, 45, of Crothersville.
Hickman is a former Crothersville police captain who was suspended March 18 and fired May 19 of this year.
“He was terminated for conduct unbecoming an officer,” Crothersville Police Chief Vurlin McIntosh said.
Hickman faces a charge of illegally transferring a firearm to Freddie Joe Taylor. The indictment charges that on March 4, 2011 he sold a Beretta 12 gauge shotgun to Taylor after knowing that Taylor was a convicted felon.
CLICK BELOW TO READ THE FULL 26-PAGE INDICTMENT
Hickman Federal Indictment
Others arrested were Aaron Richey, 32, of Underwood; Marcellus Hinton, 21, of Louisville; Gaspar Sanchez-Hernandez, 34, of Columbus; Dustin Campbell, 33, and Jesse Glover, 33, both of Scottsburg; and Cecil Cavanaugh also known as Cecil Faulkner, 47, of Salem.
“This is the dismantlement of a significant, large marijuana trafficking organization,” U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said in reference to a 29-count federal indictment against the 11.
All of those arrested with the exception of Hickman and Cavanaugh face charges of conspiracy to distribute in excess of more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana throughout southern Indiana and Kentucky.
If convicted on those charges, each man faces a prison sentence of not less than 10 years and possibly life in prison, Hogsett said.
The U.S. Attorney said Freddie Taylor organized and was the leader of the organization, which transported marijuana from Mexico, Texas and Arizona to various spots in Indiana, including Taylor’s home at 8862 N. Ind. 135, Vallonia, and his brother’s residence at 206 W. Walnut St. in Crothersville.
“There is obviously some Latino involvement, but this is not related to a Mexican cartel,” Hogsett said.
According to the charging affidavit in December 2010 police seized more than 600 pounds of marijuana as it was being smuggled here, and in March they seized $378,000 in suspected drug profits from Trejo’s residence at 1207 Brittney Boulevard in Seymour.
Various defendants face charges of possession with intent to deliver and distribute marijuana as part of the conspiracy, and some also face charges related to the use of telephones in drug trafficking activities.
Freddie Taylor and Sanchez-Hernandez also face federal firearms charges, including possession of a firearm by a felon, and Sanchez-Hernandez is an illegal alien, another federal law violation. Richey faces an additional charge of being an unlawful user of controlled substances illegally in the possession of a firearm, a charge that arises from the discovery of a weapons cache during a search on April 12 at his Underwood home.
The 26-page indictment said the organization had been in place as early as 2005 and continued through April of this year. It details a number of drug transactions that occurred between the defendants and the distribution of smaller amounts to lower-level members that are not known.
It also details trips Freddie Joe Taylor made in January and March of 2009 to Texas to obtain hundreds of pounds of marijuana as well as similar trips to Arizona.
In one case, the indictment detailed how Freddie Taylor arranged to have about 650 pounds concealed in a semitrailer with a legitimate load of materials and brought across the border from Mexico at Laredo, Texas.
Items seized during the investigation in addition to cash included a 2007 Jeep Wrangler and a 2006 Harley-Davidson motorcycle owned by Freddie Taylor as well as his house, which is in Washington County, and a second piece of property he owns on Indiana 135; a 2006 Chevrolet truck and a Yamaha ATV owned by Richey; and 22 weapons, including pistols, shotguns and rifles.
The initial hearings for the defendants in the U.S. District Court at New Albany began Thursday afternoon, according to the US attorney’s office.. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew P. Brookman has been assigned the task of prosecuting the cases.
