Two college students, recruited to drive a Winnebago carrying a $1 million stash of high grade marijuana, were among three people arrested by Denton County sheriff's narcotics investigators in a drug bust outside Dallas' exclusive W Hotel.
Two female students, Ashley Bowerman, 28, of Colorado and Jody Bogumil, 29, of Grass Valley, Calif., were to be paid $15,000 each for the trip. It's the latest ploy to try to get drug runs past law enforcement officers, Sheriff's narcotics Sgt. Jeff Davis told the Denton Record-Chronicle.
The Feb. 8 bust was tied to a series of arrests that sheriff's investigators, cooperating with the FBI, made in connection with a recent bribery case, Davis said.
Acting on a tip, sheriff's investigators staked out a parking lot of the hotel at Dallas' Victory Park. A Winnebago arrived and after watching two women meet with a man who had taken a room at the hotel, the investigators closed in and arrested the three without incident.
Investigators searching the Winnebago found that the vehicle's major storage compartments were locked, Davis said.
"We finally found the key in a tea bag in a box of tea bags in a cabinet. That's the first time I've seen a key hidden in a tea bag. They just slit the top and slid it in," Davis said.
The key opened storage units that held duffel bags containing 200 pounds of "hydro" marijuana, which brings $5,000 to $6,000 a pound compared with the $300 a pound paid for more common marijuana, said Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Wawro. Wawro called it the "highest-grade marijuana."
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Dimitriy Goncharuk, 30, originally from Russia but now of Hollywood, Calif., was at the Denton County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail Sunday, a jail detention officer told The Associated Press. He is charged with possession of marijuana over 50 pounds-under 2,000 pounds and engaging in organized criminal activity.
Bowerman and Boqumil were each released Tuesday on $50,000 bail on charges of possession of marijuana over 50 pounds-under 2,000 pounds.
