8 accused of helping move pot worth $27m

MALONE — Authorities charged eight people, including four from Franklin and St. Lawrence counties, over their alleged roles in an international drug smuggling operation linked to the Russian Mafia that moved about $27 million worth of marijuana.

The two-year investigation exposed a pipeline moving thousands of pounds of marijuana from the north country to Cleveland, prosecutors said. The crime syndicate is alleged to have moved the marijuana, which came from Canada through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, over the last three years.

Reminderville, Ohio, Police Chief Jeffrey Buck told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Beachwood Police began the initial investigation in 2007. He said the two departments started a collaborative investigation in December.

Mr. Buck said the police agencies worked together after it was discovered they were looking at common suspects. The departments then turned their evidence over to officials in New York.

"They were moving the marijuana biweekly," Franklin County District Attorney Derek P. Champagne said. "The syndicate was very well organized and systematic in moving the marijuana."

Mr. Buck said he expects more than a dozen people in Ohio to be indicted by the end of next week. He told the Plain Dealer the drugs were brought into the states through Quebec.

The investigation found that Daniel P. Simonds, who was murdered last May at his town of Stockholm home, was moving marijuana for the Russians to the Cleveland area every other week.

A federal indictment handed up in November accuses seven people of robbing Mr. Simonds of the marijuana and money at his home on May 12, 2008, and of beating and shooting him before fleeing. Six people are in custody.

Several area law enforcement agencies, including the Franklin County and St. Lawrence County Drug Task Forces and state police, then joined the investigation.

Search warrants recently executed at homes in the towns of Dickinson, Waverly and Hopkinton and the Hill Top Shop in St. Regis Falls, along with 10 locations in Ohio, uncovered more than $1.3 million in cash. Authorities also seized 14 vehicles, 2 utility trailers, three all-terrain vehicles, a snowmobile, a boat and about a pound of cocaine.

Those charged include:

■ Harold J. Fraser, 43, of 65 Church St., Dickinson, and William F. Votra, 41, of 1208 Santamont Road, Hopkinton, were charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy.

■ Sabrina Fraser, 38, of 65 Church St., Dickinson, was charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. The Frasers run the Hill Top Shop.

■ Randy Langdon, 39, of 1969 Route 458, St. Regis Falls, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

■ Jovane R. Rosa, 26, of 2913 Sixth St., Troy, was charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana.

■ Konstantin B. Sorin, 23, and Ashley R. Schmid, 21, both of Beachwood, Ohio, and Mark A. Veverka, 24, of Willoughby, Ohio, were each charged with attempted first-degree criminal possession of marijuana.

The investigation is continuing and more arrests are expected.

A recent federal designation will help four northern New York counties which border Canada to continue disrupting the drug trafficking trade, prosecutors said. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program offers federal drug law enforcement money and law enforcement resources.

"It underscores and is another example of the HIDTA designation," St. Lawrence County District Attorney Nicole M. Duvé said. "It allows us to coordinate resources and share intelligence."