Thirty years after accusing a Bland County pilot of flying illegal drugs into Southwest Virginia, prosecutors have dropped all charges against Wallace S. Thrasher.
U.S. Attorney Anthony Giorno, citing unspecified evidence that Thrasher is dead, notified the court of its intention to end the case last week.
U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad signed the dismissal order Monday. That will likely be the last entry in the case, which was opened on Feb. 28, 1985, to call Thrasher to account for an alleged drug conspiracy.
Authorities have said Thrasher flew marijuana from Belize to the United States during the 1980s. Court papers filed in Florida years ago said he died in a plane crash in Belize on Nov. 4, 1985, but some federal authorities in Roanoke suspected he survived. While calling him a fugitive, they stayed ready to prosecute should he surface.
In the meantime, Thrasher’s disappearance helped lead to one of the nation’s most successful drug investigations, culminating in the 1986 conviction of Gerardo Caballero, the son-in-law of Roberto Suarez, Bolivia’s one-time “King of Cocaine.”
Shortly before the crash in Belize, a plane owned by Thrasher crashed in Carroll County, leaving one man dead and scattering 570 pounds of marijuana over Fancy Gap Mountain, according to news reports in The Roanoke Times.
In Roanoke, authorities upgraded their criminal complaint naming Thrasher in Roanoke federal court to an indictment in 1987. But the case never went to court because authorities did not have Thrasher.
The decision to now end the case did not spring from any new information or recent event, but a routine open-case review, said Brian McGinn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.
“Despite exhaustive efforts by the United States Marshal and other state and federal law enforcement agencies, Thrasher has not been located or arrested and he remains a fugitive. The available evidence suggests that Thrasher is deceased,” Giorno wrote.
Even if Thrasher is alive, he would be difficult to convict because witnesses would not be available and too much time has gone by, Giorno said.
Source: http://www.roanoke.com
ROANOKE, Va. - A known drug smuggler from southwest Virginia had a federal indictment from the late 80s dropped Monday. The reason why? The feds now officially say they think he's dead.
In 1984, a plane owned by Wallace Thrasher crashed in Carroll County. On board were a dead pilot and hundreds of pounds of marijuana. A drug ring was broken up by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke and even a drug lord from South America was convicted. But Thrasher was never found. He was charged in 1985 after investigators tied the plane to Thrasher. He was indicted in 1987 when it was thought he still might be alive.
On July 27, U.S. Attorney Anthony Giorno filed a motion to dismiss a smuggling charge, saying he now believes Thrasher is dead. Monday, a district judge signed the order without definitive proof of what ever happened to him.
"Even if Thrasher is not deceased, the passage of time and unavailability of witnesses would make it difficult to prosecute the case effectively," Giorno wrote in his filing.
"Upon review of my filed motion, there really is nothing I can add by way of public comment," Giorno responded to an email seeking additional information. "Much as I would like to discuss this matter, I don't have anything to say publicly beyond the language in the motion."
In 2000, former WDBJ7 Anchor Keith Humphry filed a report on the Thrasher saga that centered around his wife, Olga, his lawyers (some who went to prison themselves,) and even a farm in Bath County that was the drop-off site of many plane loads of pot and cocaine.
Source: http://www.wdbj7.com
NTSB Identification: ATL85FA011
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 26913.
Accident occurred Wednesday, October 17, 1984 in FANCY GAP, VA
Aircraft: Beech QU-22A 1074, registration: N83475
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
AT ABOUT THE 2,800 FT LEVEL THE ACFT FLEW INTO THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN WHICH WAS OBSCURED BY CLOUDS. WITNESSES OBSERVED 2 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO FLY OVER THE RISING TERRAIN UNDER THE CLOUD LAYER. DEPARTURE AND DEST ARPT, PLT IDENTITY, AND ACFT OWNER ARE ALL UNKNOWN. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ESTIMATE THAT APRX 1,000 LBS OF MARIJUANA WERE ABOARD THE ACFT. MOST OF THE WRECKAGE WAS DESTROYED BY POST CRASH FIRE. THE ACFT WAS ORIGINALLY MANUFACTURED AS A DRONE FOR THE U.S. ARMY. IT WAS SIMILAR TO A BEECH DEBONAIR, A TOTAL OF 12 WERE BUILT.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
FLIGHT INTO KNOWN ADVERSE WEATHER..ATTEMPTED..PILOT IN COMMAND
SELF-INDUCED PRESSURE..PILOT IN COMMAND
WEATHER CONDITION..CLOUDS
Contributing Factors:
TERRAIN CONDITION..MOUNTAINOUS/HILLY
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