$4 million pot delivery service busted [PA]

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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 18,864

$4 million pot delivery service busted [PA]

#4584558 - 08/26/05 03:51 PM (21 years, 1 day ago)

Actor accused in $4 million racket that used bike couriers
August 26, 2005 - philly.com

"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; the thief doth fear each bush an officer." - Shakespeare, "Henry VI"

SHAKESPEAREAN actor Christian Seth Lisak might have found that quote particularly meaningful since his arrest yesterday as one of the leaders of a multimillion-dollar marijuana ring.

Lisak, 32, an actor and acting teacher, helped operate an extensive pot operation that used bicycle couriers to transport the drug to customers, federal authorities said.

They were peddling pedalers carrying high-quality marijuana in plastic bags with such imaginative names as Purple Haze, Durga Mata, Blueberry, Green Tea Haze, Wonderberry, Elkectichaze, 4-Way, Afgani, Humbolt, Miami Krypt and Super Skunk, officials said.

Customers contacted the drug ring by its pager service, using a "PIN" or personal identification number.

One of the ring's "dispatchers" would then return the customer's call, take the order, and dispatch a bicycle courier to make the delivery and to collect money from the customer.

Some of the marijuana deliveries went to undercover federal agents from June through November of 2003, the feds said.

"It was top-notch quality," one federal source said of the product.

The marijuana was sold usually several grams at a time.

Two plastic containers holding about 3.3 grams of pot sold for $100, according to an eight-count indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Lisak, of Chestnut Street near 8th, and 11 others were accused of conspiring between January 1999 and November 2003 to sell more than 220 pounds of marijuana.

Prosecutors contend the drug ring, allegedly headed by Ryan Whiteoak, 32, of Philadelphia, grossed more than $1 million a year over a four-year period.

Whiteoak has yet to be arrested, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Velez.

In the past two years, Lisak has performed with the Vagabond Acting Troup at the Adrienne Theatre, on Sansom Street near 21st, and the Montgomery County Cultural Center, in Norristown.

The plays included Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer."

Velez said Lisak was a teacher but he did not know where Lisak taught acting methods.

Neither Lisak nor his attorney, Scott Magargee, of the Cozen O'Connor law firm, could be reached yesterday for comment.

Lisak was released on $10,000 bail, along with another reputed ring "manager," David Rosenberg, 30, of Hamilton Street near 10th, after their arrests Wednesday.

Rosenberg's attorneys, Dennis Cogan and Anthony Petrone, couldn't be reached for comment.

Another codefendant, Michael McCann, 30, of Christian Street near 10th, one of six bicycle couriers who allegedly made deliveries for the ring, surrendered to agents after hearing that they were looking for him, said his attorney, Carmen Nasuti.

"He's ready to accept responsibility for his conduct... He's turned his life around," Nasuti said of his client, who now works as a house painter.

Other defendants include Brian Callahan, 28, of Bridgeton, N.J., one of the reputed managers; the two "dispatchers," Amy Ilnicki, 27, of Fairmount Avenue near 18th Street, and Leah Murray, 29, of Aramingo Avenue near Westmoreland Street.

The other bike couriers, Ben Gaydos, 26, of 3rd Street near Arch; Brian Marr, 28, of 16th Street near Fitzwater; Jeff Cuellar, 24, of 10th Street near Federal; Michael Sanders, 31, of Christian near 22nd, and Steven Breese, 25, of Webster Street near 19th.

The feds are seeking to forfeit unspecified proceeds of the ring totaling $8,702,400.

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