Former Navy SEAL and two Columbia brothers charged over 700 kg of marijuana
A former US Navy SEAL, James Dennis "JD" Smith Jr., was arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, and two brothers, Carl and Bryon Rye, were arrested in Columbia, South Carolina, on federal charges of conspiring to distribute at least 700 kilograms of marijuana. Investigators said Smith flew marijuana into Columbia, where the Ryes sold it.
🇺🇸 Charlotte, North Carolina · United States
·
Arrested
3
Charged
3
Cannabis
700 kg
A former US Navy SEAL, James Dennis “JD” Smith Jr., was arrested on Saturday 17
June 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina, on federal charges of smuggling
marijuana.[1]Carl Rye and Bryon Rye, brothers from Columbia, South Carolina,
were arrested the same day when agents raided Bryon Rye’s home on Rosewood Drive
in Columbia.[2]
All three were charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent
to distribute at least 700 kilograms (over 1,540 pounds) of marijuana, according
to a criminal complaint filed the previous day.[2]The complaint says the
three were accused of possessing and planning to distribute at least 700
kilograms (over 1,540 pounds) of marijuana.[1]
Smith, who served 16 years as a Navy SEAL, flew marijuana into Columbia on a
twin-engine aircraft that landed several times at Jim Hamilton-L.B. Owens
Airport, and the Ryes sold it across South Carolina, according to a DEA
affidavit.[1]Smith told agents at a 2014 document check at Manassas Airport
in Virginia that he had bought the plane, registered as The Praetorian, for
medical humanitarian missions in Central America.[1]A search of a storage
unit linked to the Ryes found deep freezers holding vacuum-sealed bags of
marijuana, about 28 pounds of it, some labelled “Medical Cannabis”, according to
the complaint.[2]
The DEA had been investigating the three men since August 2014, and a federal
court in South Carolina set a hearing for the following Thursday.[2]All three
were arraigned in federal court on Monday and held without bond, and each charge
carried 5 to 40 years in prison; they were charged, not sentenced.[3]
No sentence, conviction or final court outcome is recorded in these 2017 accounts, and none was recorded publicly in this submission; the report is at the charged stage.
The 700 kg figure is the amount the complaint says the men conspired to distribute, not a weight seized in this operation; only about 28 pounds was found in one storage unit, and that amount is left out of the figures because sources give it only for that unit.
Sources give differing ages (Carl Rye 40 in the CBS affidavit account and 41 in a search summary) and spell the brother's name both Bryon and Byron; the report follows CBS's spelling.
The WIS and Navy Times reports say the three were initially held without bond; custody later changed but no opened account describes that, so the report states only the June 2017 arraignment.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Navy Times: Some of the marijuana was legally grown medical cannabis from California marked "unlawful to redistribute", Navy Times reported, citing The State.
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