Covered in mud from head to toe and holding thousands of dollars, Baxter will never forget perhaps the most memorable night of her career when she responded to a single-engine plane crash near Highway E and Interstate 94 on Nov. 1, 1985.
“We spent most of the night out there in that field,” Baxter said. “I remember everyone laughing and giggling as we stuffed over $110,000 into garbage bags.”
Marshall Dion, the pilot of the plane, was in an ambulance and being treated by paramedics for two broken ankles when deputies arrived. The severely damaged plane contained several leather bags holding an estimated $200,000. Bills of all denominations floated in the crisp, fall breeze and were scattered throughout the field.
Dion, a 50-year-old Portland, Maine, resident at the time, told detectives he was unaware of the large amount of cash.
“He said, ‘What money? I don’t have any money’,” Baxter said.
When a scale with marijuana residue was seized, authorities tied the cash to drug trafficking, according to Baxter. Deputies bagged over $110,000 that night and used the money to purchase the department’s first mobile command emergency response vehicle.
The rest of the cash was an early Christmas present for nearby farmers, according to Baxter.
“The next day I’m sure there were all kind of gawkers, but I bet the farmers were out early enough to pick up everything,” Baxter said. “It was farmer’s aid for the year. They were able to keep it because it was on their property. (Dion) claimed it wasn’t his.”
Heard the crash
James Fonk, 76, owned the property. He said his son John notified him of the crash and his wife Frances, 74, made the 911 call.
“I was in the basement and John was upstairs, and he said, ‘I just heard a plane crash,’” James said in a telephone call from his winter home in Sebring, Fla. “I said, ‘You’re full of (crap).’
“I saw some lights about a half-mile away. I backed my truck out of the driveway and I see a guy crawling up the road on his hands and knees. I had to park my truck in the road so nobody would hit him.”
James said he helped Dion, who asked him to quickly retrieve items out of his plane.
“I went down there with a farmer’s flashlight, about as dim as they get, and I found a suitcase,” James said. “I pull it out and there’s a pile of money next to it. I was like, holy (crap). I took an old blanket of his and started throwing (all the money) in there, and the cops pulled up right away. They told me I better put it on the ground; this is a crime scene now.”
Kenosha County Sheriff’s detectives took over the investigation as deputies — wearing borrowed raincoats and boots from the Paris Fire Department — scooped up bills like kids on an Easter egg hunt.
Dion arrested again
Baxter, 63, spent 15 years with the department before retiring in 1995. She was surprised when a Boston writer contacted her on Nov. 17 and inquired about that memorable evening.
It appears Dion didn’t let a plane crash slow business. Dion was convicted of drug trafficking in 1989 when Boston police discovered over 100 pounds of marijuana in his car.
He ran into the law again last summer when he was reportedly pulled over speeding in a beat-up pickup truck in Junction City, Kan.
Dion, 79, told police he was a retiree from Tucson, Ariz., living off his $690-per-month Social Security check. Police reportedly found $828,220 inside his truck and used a GPS device to track his steps to a self-storage facility in North Reading, Mass.
Authorities there found $11.5 million in cash, more than 168 pounds of marijuana and records of customers, amounts of marijuana sold and cash balances in the storage unit.
“I was shocked,” Baxter said. “I thought he was in prison all this time. Unbelievable.”
Dion’s attorney, Henry Brennan, is arguing the police stop and search of Dion’s truck was illegal and everything they found as a result cannot be used against him.
According to public records, Dion has resided in Boston; Portland, Maine; Grand Junction, Colo.; and Tucson, Ariz.
Dion will likely never forget his short trip to Kenosha.
“We went and visited him in the hospital,” James Fonk said. “The people he was there with were kind of seedy looking. We ended up leaving because my wife was afraid they were going to come look for us because there was some money missing.”
- Source: http://www.kenoshanews.com
http://registry.faa.gov/N92302
NTSB Identification: CHI86LA022.
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 29497.
Accident occurred Friday, November 01, 1985 in KENOSHA, WI
Aircraft: CESSNA 182N, registration: N92302
Injuries: 1 Serious.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
ACCORDING TO THE PILOT THE FLIGHT FROM TOLEDO TO THE KENOSHAAREA WAS UNEVENTFUL. DURING THE VOR APPROACH TO RWY 14 (APPROX 2 MILES FROM THE END OF THE RUNWAY) THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE GROUND AND WAS DESTROYED. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE LAST THING HE REMBERED BEFORE IMPACT WAS SEEING 1100 FEET MSL ON HIS ALTIMETER. HE WAS USING THE CORRECT ALTIMETER SETTING. THE ALTIMETER WAS LATER GIVEN A COMPLETE SCALE ERROR CHECK AT AN INDEPENDENT AVIONICS REPAIR FACILITY. THE RESULTS OF THIS TEST INDICATED AN ERROR RANGE OF -400 FT AT A SIMULATED ALTITUDE OF 1000 FT TO -950 FT AT A SIMULATED ALTITUDE OF 20000 FT. IT IS A NON-ENCODING ALTIMETER AND WAS LAST CHECKED BY A CERTIFIED REPAIR STATION APPROXIMATELY 19 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
MAINTENANCE, INSPECTION ... NOT OBTAINED ... PILOT IN COMMAND
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
MAINTENANCE, CALIBRATION ... NOT OBTAINED ... PILOT IN COMMAND
Contributing Factors
FLIGHT/NAV INSTRUMENTS, ALTIMETER...FALSE INDICATION
This June 2013 booking photo provided by the Junction City, Kan., Police Department shows Marshall Dion, 78, of Tucson, Ariz., arrested and charged with speeding and transporting proceeds from illegal drug sales. Police seized $828,220 in his pickup truck, but Dion’s trouble with the law dates back decades. The stop led authorities to storage units in Massachusetts and Arizona where they found nearly $15 million in cash, more than 1,000 kilos of marijuana and ledgers allegedly detailing drug deals going back to 1992. (AP Photo/Junction City Police Department)
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