A CASE OF INJUSTICE

My name is Carl Warmack, and this is the story of the investigation, trial and conviction of ten men on drug charges. The trial was held in Roanoke, Virginia. This is a story of a scheme by a corrupt U.S. Attorney, John Alderman, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Richard Pierce, (my prosecutor) and Assistant U.S. Attorney, Thomas Bondurant.  These three men worked with DEA Agent, Donald Lincoln to use their plane and pilot to smuggle drugs, share them with General Noriega and frame ten men for their crime.  Pierce formed a task force of various state and federal agents to set me up on false drug charges.  Pierce set up his task force a year prior to the time that Agent Lincoln testified that the investigation began.  After several failed attempts to set me up, Pierce had his task force meet to create a new plan to set me up.  At that meeting, the “informant” told Pierce that he had no knowledge of me ever having any drug involvement.  Agent Lincoln suggested other methods to get me involved with drugs.  At trial, the prosecutor, Richard Pierce, withheld this recording.  Pierce withheld this recording and other critical information, such as a transponder installed on my airplane to monitor my movements.  Pierce also suborned Agent Lincoln’s false testimony that the investigation began in December of 1985, when it actually began 14 months prior to that time.  The government withheld all information about the Pierce’s 14 month joint task force investigation in order to present a false story to the jury about an informant that led the DEA to me and a non-existent smuggling ring. Case # CR-86-00028-10-R.

 

On April 7, 1986, Federal agents arrested ten men on Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and other drug related charges. They were subsequently convicted in Federal Court in Roanoke Virginia. The charges involved the importation of 342 kilos of cocaine from Bolivia. This was one of the largest drug busts in the history of the DEA and was the largest criminal trial ever held in Virginia. The presiding judge was the Honorable James C. Turk. All ten men were convicted and received sentences up to 40 years in prison. Due to the this malicious prosecution, my conviction should be overturned.

 

The main people in this story are:

Richard Pierce Assistant U.S. Attorney (my trial prosecutor) Joint task force leader

Donald Lincoln DEA Agent Govt’s main witness at trial (DEA Agent)

Douglas Griffin Informant and Wally Thrasher’s partner and (Informant)

Carl Warmack Task Force target (Me)

Michael Lenz New Smyrna Beach, Florida detective (Detective)

Wally Thrasher Partner of Doug Griffin (Wally Thrasher)

Olga Thrasher Wally Thrasher’s wife (Olga Thrasher)

Keith Neely (represented informant Olga Thrasher and Carl Warmack) (My trial attorney)

John Parker friend of Carl Warmack who lived in St. Petersburg, FL (Parker)

Freddie Gilbert Informant

 

At trial, the prosecution presented the false story that an Informant was arrested and introduced a DEA Agent to Me, a member of a major drug smuggling ring importing 500 kilos of cocaine into the U.S. each month and a drug associate of the Informant. As a result of the Informant’s introduction of the DEA Agent to Me, the DEA Agent was able to penetrate the smuggling ring. I then ask the DEA Agent to fly drugs into the United States. This led to the importation of 342 kilos of cocaine into the United States and the arrest of the major members of that smuggling ring. Exhibit 1

 

On Direct Appeal of my conviction, the Court issued the following opinion: Exhibit 2

“ … The prosecution resulted from the undercover activities of DEA Agent Donald Lincoln, who was an experienced agent and an able aircraft pilot. He successfully infiltrated a drug group that was moving cocaine from South America into the United States. Lincoln used an arrested drug dealer turned informant, Douglas Griffin, to introduce him to appellant Warmack, who knew cocaine suppliers in Miami and in South America. The evidence of the drug conspiracy was overwhelming so that it was not contested by many of the appellants in the companion cases. … Warmack contends that a twelve-page police report from the New Smyrna Beach Police Department and a tape of an interview made by these policemen should have been produced to him pursuant to the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 3500 (1982). Appellant contends that this material included statements of the informant Griffin and could have been used effectively to cross examine Griffin and Agent Lincoln. He also contends that this material would have helped him establish an entrapment defense. We have reviewed this material and find that it does not qualify as Jencks Act Material…”.

 

Note: The Court has reviewed the material tendered in the appeal brief but has never been in possession of the undisclosed tape recording nor the full undisclosed 47 page police report. The government refused to provide a transcript of the undisclosed tape recording. Exhibit 3

 

THE STORY

This is a case where my trial prosecutor and the DEA agent, created, planned and carried out a cocaine smuggling operation with their plane and pilot and then withheld major evidence in order to present a false story to the jury to convict Me and nine others. Newly discovered evidence enabled Me to piece the undisclosed information together and understand what the government had done to falsely convict Me. Exhibit 5 The story presented to the jury at trial was that the DEA busted Douglas Griffin who became an informant and led the DEA to Me and a large smuggling ring that was importing 500 kilos of cocaine each month. DEA Agent, Lincoln, then penetrated that smuggling ring and I ask him to import drugs into the United States. This resulted in the importation of 342 kilos of cocaine from Bolivia. Ten men were arrested and convicted on various drug charges. The jury was not told that the prosecutor had set up a joint Task Force that specifically targeted Me to be set up on drug charges. There was no justification for this Task Force operation against Me. The Task Force had made failed attempts to set me up for more than a year prior to the time testified to as the beginning of their investigation. All information concerning the prosecutor’s year-long Drug Task Force Investigation against Me was withheld in order to present the false story to the jury about busting an informant and penetrating a smuggling ring.

 

While serving an 18 year prison sentence and this year, I obtained undisclosed documents that that show the following chronological story. This story is not complete, as many documents are still being withheld by the government.

 

This case began with an investigation of Me. On the undisclosed tape recording of the Task Force meeting of August 28, 1985, one agent said “I’ve been working Carl for the last five years, ever since I went into the detectives.” “As you can see, I got a complete file on him.” Exhibit 10 pg 4

 

In the fall of 1984, I was living in New Smyrna Beach, Florida and did not know any of the defendants involved in this case. A friend of mine from St. Petersburg, Florida, Parker, called Me and said he owned an old twin engine airplane in Virginia that needed repairs and wanted to sell it to me. Parker knew I had just gotten my pilot’s license and that I wanted to get some experience in a twin-engine airplane. Parker said that the plane had been sitting for more than a year and need a lot of work but that it was able to fly. Parker said he would sell it to Me cheap. On February 9, 1985, I paid an experienced pilot fly the plane from Virginia to the Municipal Airport at New Smyrna Beach, Florida. My only interest was purchasing an old airplane from Parker. Then, I could afford to repair the plane and get some twin engine hours flying time. Unknown to me, a lookout for the airplane had been placed by U.S. Customs agent Charlie Inman in Roanoke Virginia. Apparently, the plane had previously been associated with the informant or Wally Thrasher. I did not have a relationship with the Informant or Wally Thrasher. Undisclosed documents state that the informant and Wally Thrasher had imported 4 small plane loads of marihuana totaling approximately 1200 pounds including 32 kilos of cocaine. On October 17, 1984, one of Wally Thrasher’s planes crashed at Fancy Gap Virginia. It was loaded with marihuana. This started the investigation of Wally Thrasher and the informant. A New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Detective observed the old airplane I had flown to New Smyrna Beach on February 28, 1985, and contacted agent Inman. Exhibit 4 On approximately May 15, 1985, the informant had the plane flown back to Virginia where it was sold for scrap. Sometime during the Winter of 1984, my trial prosecutor and the DEA Agent established a Joint Task force that targeted Me to be set up on drug charges. They were unable to arrest any of the Informant or Wally Thrasher’s associates, so they targeted me, the person who was trying to buy the old airplane that they apparently associated with Wally Thrasher. There was no basis for this investigation. In an article in the Roanoker magazine June 1996 entitled “The Big Bust”, the DEA Agent was quoted as saying “The way it (the investigation of me) actually started was with the crash of one of Wally Thrasher’s planes.” Exhibit 5 That crash occurred on October 17, 1984 at Fancy Gap, Virginia. This directly contradicts Lincoln’s trial testimony that the investigation began in December 1985. Exhibit 8 My trial prosecutor’s Joint Task Force consisted of the DEA, Virginia State Police, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), New Smyrna Beach Police Department, U.S. Customs and unknown others. The Task Force began a series of failed attempts to involve Me with drugs around December 1984. On March 6, 1985, Special Agent Larry Horde, U. S. Customs agent obtained a court order to place a transponder on the aircraft at New Smyrna Beach to monitor my movements. Exhibit 4 On March 10, 1985, Olga Thrasher and an informant, Freddie Gilbert, came to my home. Exhibit 4 I had never met either of them. Olga Thrasher had gotten my address from Parker. Olga Thrasher ask Me for money for the airplane and said her husband, Wally Thrasher, owned the plane. I did not give her any money because I had not received the title to the airplane. She asked Me if I knew how to set up a smuggling operation with the airplane and I told her I was not an experienced pilot and would not consider that. An undisclosed police report says that “Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agent, Jerome Beasley, contacted the U. S. Attorney’s Office in Roanoke Virginia and spoke with Attorney Dick Pierce (my trial prosecutor), phone number (703) 982-6250, who advised that (Olga) thrasher, in Pierce’s opinion, was cooperating and that Pierce would have one of his investigators interview Thrasher regarding Warmack.” Exhibit 4 Olga Thrasher was later interviewed by the Detective and debriefed by the DEA Agent in the presence of my Trial attorney, Neely. Exhibit 6 I was unaware that Olga Thrasher had been arrested and used by the prosecutor to try and set Me up on drug charges. My trial attorney, Neely, represented Olga Thrasher. Also, she could have been called as a witness. After the Task Force failed to set Me up using Olga Thrasher, she was used to set up the Informant, Griffin, on cocaine charges in June 1985. After the informant was arrested, the Task Force immediately gave him my phone number and he began making Me offers to become involved in a drug deal. In September 1985, a pen register was placed on my home telephone, (904) 427-0000. Exhibit 9 (After numerous failed attempts by the Informant making phone calls and visiting my home, the frustrated task force met in Roanoke, Virginia on August 28, 1985. The partial tape recording of that meeting was not disclosed at trial. On that recording, the informant, Griffin, told the prosecutor that he had no knowledge of Me ever having any drug involvement.

Note: Griffin was trying desperately to get out of a major cocaine arrest and was given probation and put in the Witness Protection Program for his assistance in setting Me up.

The following statements were made on the undisclosed recording of the Task Force meeting of Aug. 28, 1985: Exhibit 10

  1. Page 1 One agent talked about the tape recording of the meeting and told the Informant “This (recording) is just so we can have something to refer to, in other words, it won’t be used against you. This is not going to be used against you, right here on tape, see there?
  2. Page 1 Lenz: “Mr. Griffin, you know why we are here, and that’s in reference to Carl Warmack.”
  3. Page 3 Lenz ask Griffin: “Were you ever involved with Warmack on any kind of a dope deal?

Griffin: “No, None at all.”

Agent Lenz: Do you know of any deals Warmack was involved in?:

Griffin: “No”

  1. Page 9 Lincoln: “What do you think you could do with Carl (Warmack)?

Lincoln: “If you furnish a plane and a pilot, would he (Warmack) take it?

  1. Page 10 Griffin: “…you’d have to offer him something like a plane or whatever.”
  2. Page 10 Lincoln: “What do you think would happen if you got him back up here and said well look, Quite frankly, I traded off the 2929 Lima (airplane) cause it was too hot, but I got another plane?”
  3. Page 10 Lincoln said “We had Olga call him (Warmack) on May 4th”.
  4. Page 9 Lincoln and Pierce were concerned that Olga Thrasher or my trial attorney would tell Me that the Task Force was trying to set Me up.

Note: My trial prosecutor filed an affidavit with the Court of Appeals that neither he nor the DEA Agent had any knowledge of the tape recording or police reports and later motioned the Court to strike that statement. Exhibit 7

 

DEA Agent Lincoln testified at trial that the investigation began in December 1985 and stated “I did not offer him (Me) anything, he brought the deal to me”. Exhibit 8 This contradicts his statement on the recording where he suggested offering Me an airplane in order to get Me involved with drugs. Exhibit 10 pages 9 – 10

 

Shortly after this Task Force meeting on August 28, 1985, the Informant continued making Me offers to become involved with drugs. He told Me his cousin, Donald Lincoln, (the DEA Agent) had a “Merlin” aircraft that could fly to South America. He said the DEA Agent was married to General Noriega’s daughter and was flying drugs into the U.S. but had lost his connection and wanted to find another connection. He offered Me $500,000 to find a connection for drugs.

 

Someone the DEA Agent had contacted gave the DEA Agent’s phone number to the Calleja brothers. I did not know the Calleja brothers at this time. The Calleja brothers contacted the DEA Agent. The DEA Agent falsely testified that I introduced him to the Calleja brothers. Phone records show my first contact with the Calleja brothers was in November, 1985, three months after the tape recorded meeting where Lincoln suggested that the informant offer Me an airplane to do a smuggling venture. The DEA Agent simply went around offering people large sums of money for a connection. The DEA Agent met many people and set up four different operations with General Noriega to try various drug smuggling operations with the government plane and pilot. The DEA Agent ran the entire smuggling operation. He finally met someone who connected him with a Bolivian cocaine supplier. None of the defendants in this case knew the cocaine supplier. On the fourth smuggling attempt, the DEA Agent used his plane and pilot and arranged for them to fly to Bolivia and load 392 kilos of cocaine on the government plane. When the plane returned from Bolivia it landed first in Panama and General Noriega was given 50 kilos the remaining cocaine was flown to Virginia. Ten men were arrested, tried and convicted on drug charges in Roanoke Virginia. I received an 18 year sentence.

 

There was no smuggling ring or drug cartel. Most of the defendants did not know each other and I did not know any of them when this began. None of the defendants knew the drug supplier. There were other attempts, not mentioned here, to involve Me with drugs, but I cannot prove they were done by the Task Force. The Informant was not an informant. The DEA Agent was not a pilot and was never in any danger. After every smuggling attempt by Lincoln, I thought the DEA agent was through trying to smuggle drugs. After every failed smuggling attempt, DEA Agent Lincoln continue meeting different people looking for a connection for his smuggling venture. No evidence of a drug cartel, or drug ring smuggling operation with the defendants was ever presented to the Court. None of the defendants testified at trial as most of them did not know their each other. We simply were not fully aware of what was happening. It appears that my trial attorney, Keith Neely, was working against Me with the trial prosecutor, as both knew Olga Thrasher was an informant against Me and that she should have been called as a witness. The conflict of interest is absolute.

My trial prosecutor suborned the DEA Agent’s perjury concerning the beginning date of the investigation and permitted my lawyer to represent Me while he knew there was a direct conflict with Olga Thrasher since he prosecuted her. My trial prosecutor withheld all information concerning his year long Task Force operation against me. I could have called the prosecutor as a witness, because of his recorded statements about Me, if the tape recording and reports had been disclosed. Several undisclosed tape recordings were mentioned on the one undisclosed recording. Much Jencks and Brady material is still being withheld.

 

The prosecutor and DEA Agent created and carried out this crime. Now I have a previously undisclosed tape recording of my trial prosecutor and DEA Agent planning to create this crime and to frame me for it. There was no justification for the government’s investigation. The Task Force specifically targeted Me to be set up on drug charges. Approximately 80 years were served in prison because of this crime by the government. One defendant died in prison. Millions of dollars in assets were seized. Many documents are still being withheld by the government, such as the affidavit to install a transponder on my aircraft and any notes or tape recordings of the interview of Olga Thrasher. The Court has never possessed these undisclosed documents and the prosecutor refused to transcribe the undisclosed tape recording of August 28, 1985. Exhibit 3 All litigation concerning this misconduct was summarily dismissed by the District Court and the government has never had to answer any of these allegations. It has taken Me years to piece together enough information to learn what I now know about the government’s wrongful actions in this case. It is sad that Attorneys Thomas Bondurandt, Richard Pierce, agent George “Stick” Austin from the Virginia State Police, Judge Turk, Judge Conrad, DEA Agent Donald Lincoln are all corrupt men. They all either acted illegally or knew of the illegal actions of the government and did not have the integrity to stand up against it and they let ten men go to prison without a fair trial. In fact, Even after they have been exposed, they still withhold evidence and refuse to repent. I do not seek revenge, I seek justice.

TIMELINE

  1. October 17, 1984 Crash of Wally Thrasher’s plane at Fancy Gap, Virginia
  2. December 20th 1984 (approx) my trial prosecutor established task force to set up on drug charges.
  3. February 9, 1985 Old plane 2929L was flown from Roanoke Virginia to New Smyrna Beach Florida Municipal Airport
  4. March 6, 1985 U. S. Customs Agent Larry Horde obtained Court order to place transponder on my airplane
  5. March 10, 1985, Olga Thrasher and informant Freddie Gilbert visited my home seeking money for the airplane and tried to get Me involved in a smuggling operation.
  6. March 30, 1985 (approx.) my trial prosecutor had his agent interview informant Olga Thrasher regarding Me.
  7. May 4, 1985, my trial prosecutor stated on the undisclosed recording, “We had Olga call him (Warmack) on May 4th” (1985)
  8. May 15, 1985 (approx.) The aircraft N2929L was flown to Virginia and sold for scrap.
  9. June 1985, Olga Thrasher set Griffin up on cocaine trafficking charges.
  10. August 28, 1985 Pierce’s Task Force met in Roanoke, VA to figure out another plan to set Me up on drug charges.
  11. Sept. 1985, Pen register placed on my home phone 904-427-0000
  12. March 1985 to January 1986. Numerous visits and calls by various people trying to involve Me with dugs
  13. December, 1985. The date The DEA Agent testified that the investigation began.
  14. December 1985 to April 1986 The DEA Agent set up operations with Noriega four times trying different scams with various people he had met.
  15. April 6, 1986. The DEA Agent’s plane and pilot landed in Virginia with their cocaine. I was arrested on April 7, 1986.