6/16/2010
HER BOYFRIEND MADE HER DO IT! 506 lbs POT
AP
This undated photo provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration shows Lisette Lee, who authorities arrested after allegedly flying to Ohio on a private jet with 506 pounds of marijuana in 13 suitcases.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A California woman traveling with a bodyguard on a private jet was arrested at an Ohio airport with 506 pounds of marijuana stashed in 13 suitcases, federal authorities said.
Lisette Lee, the bodyguard and two personal assistants were arrested Monday night after the Drug Enforcement Administration got a tip that the 28-year-old woman was traveling with a suspicious amount of luggage.
After the chartered plane landed in Columbus, one of Lee's assistants and her bodyguard helped baggage workers unload some of the luggage, authorities said. It took two men to carry some of the large suitcases, which were packed with bricks of pot, and three vehicles to carry all the luggage, authorities said.
Authorities also confiscated from Lee's bag three cell phones, cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and suspected drug ledgers that showed some $300,000 in transactions.
Lee was charged with conspiracy and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute. Her attorneys, Bill Meeks and Dave Thomas, did not immediately return a message left Wednesday. She was being held without bail pending a Friday hearing.
Her bodyguard and two personal assistants were released pending possible indictments, DEA agent Anthony Marotta said.
Lee told investigators that she chartered the plane from Van Nuys, Calif., to Columbus to visit a boyfriend and transport equipment to a horse farm. She said it was her fourth such trip.
She said a friend paid her $60,000 to take more than a dozen suitcases from Los Angeles to an unattended hotel room in Columbus, stay for a few days and then bring back fewer pieces of luggage, authorities said.
Lee later told investigators that she and her entourage knew the horse story was phony and that they were likely involved with "weapons and money laundering or something," authorities wrote in court papers.
If convicted, Lee could face up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million.
Hope it was worth the money honey.....
6/14/2010
6/11/2010
SNARKY SAILOR SAFE!!!
photo from Yachting World
A 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey alone was drifting in the frigid southern Indian Ocean on Friday as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves that knocked out her communications and prompted her to set off a distress signal.
After a tense 20 hours of silence, a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday.
Her boat's mast was broken — ruining satellite phone reception — and was dragging with the sail in the ocean, said search coordinator Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority that chartered a commercial jet for the search.
But the keel was intact, the yacht was not taking on water and Sunderland was equipped for the conditions, he said.
"The aircraft (crew) spoke to her. They told her help was on the way and she sounds like she's in good health," Kinley told reporters in Canberra.
"She's going to hang in there until a vessel can get to her," probably on Saturday, he said.
A lifelong sailor, Sunderland had begun her journey trying to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop around the world and continued her trip after mechanical failures dashed that dream.
She told searchers Friday that she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks' worth of food, said family spokesman William Bennett. Support team member Jeff Casher said the boat had gotten knocked on its side several times.
Abby's father, Laurence Sunderland, thanked the Australian rescuers' quick response in sending out a search plane.
Read More Abby Sunderland's new boat arrives
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