PORTLAND, Maine — A Scarborough man was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to more than nine years in prison on drug conspiracy and money laundering charges in connection with his marijuana distribution operation that stretched from California to Maine.
In addition to prison time, David Jones, also known as Dave Kos, 30, was sentenced to eight years of supervised release, according to information posted on the court’s electronic case filing system.
Jones, who was sentenced to nine years and two months, pleaded guilty in December 2013, in a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office. As part of that agreement, Jones agreed to forfeit more than 60 items he bought with the proceeds from selling marijuana. The items include vehicles, televisions, jewelry, equipment from a Biddeford music studio and more than $300,000 in cash.
The vehicles included a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with an extended cab, a 2009 Silver Cadillac, a 40-foot Silverton motorboat, a jet ski, a motorcycle, three all-terrain vehicles, a snowmobile and a Big Buck tandem trailer. The order also listed 60 items seized Oct. 2, 2013, from Jones’ music studio located at 2 Main St., Biddeford.
The items will be auctioned off through a program run by the U.S. Marshals Service that administers the forfeiture program for the Justice Department.
Proceeds from the sale of items sold through the asset forfeiture program are used to fund law enforcement programs. Under the Equitable Sharing Program, the proceeds often are shared with the local and state law enforcement agencies that assisted in the investigation and arrests which led to the forfeitures.
Jones was arrested Sept. 5, 2012, in Ellsworth, Kansas, while overseeing the transport of marijuana to Maine in a car someone else was driving, according to the prosecution version of events to which he pleaded guilty 15 months ago. Court documents do not say whether he was charged in that state or when or if he was released on bail.
Jones was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court in Maine on Oct. 4, 2013. He has been held without bail since then.
Jones’ smuggling activities came to the attention of federal investigators in September 2012 with information provided by two unnamed defendants, according to court documents. In late 2011, one of the cooperating defendants began distributing marijuana for Jones, which he was sending to Maine using FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service.
Another cooperating defendant told investigators that he or she introduced Jones in September 2011 to a relative of the cooperating defendant who became Jones’ supplier. The packages were shipped to third parties in Maine.
The money laundering charge stemmed from Jones’ purchase of an interest in a business in June 2012 owned by Gary Prolman, a former attorney in Saco, according to the prosecution version of events. Jones agreed to buy 10 percent of the unnamed firm for $250,000 in five installments. He paid in low denominations that were packed in vacuum sealed bags inside a backpack.
Prolman, 53, deposited the money in increments under $10,000 to avoid having the deposit reported to the Internal Revenue Service, the court document said. Prolman is serving a two-year sentence for money laundering at a federal prison in Louisburg, Pennsylvania.
Jones faced between 10 years and life in prison. He also could have been fined up to $8 million. Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended sentence was between nearly 23 and more than 27 years, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Perry.
The prosecutor said Wednesday that he recommended Jones be incarcerated for 11 years and eight months. Defense attorney Joel Vincent of Portland urged the judge to send Jones to prison for between eight years and four months and 10 years.