clinton
09-09-2008, 05:47 AM
By ED QUIOCO, Times Staff Writer
? St. Petersburg Times
published June 18, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OLDSMAR -- Pinellas County sheriff's detectives recently returned to the tan stilt home with large bay windows where in March they arrested a 47-year-old man for receiving opium mailed to him from Iran.
But this time investigators were looking for his wife.
Jill Khanalizadeh, who turns 47 today, was charged with trafficking in opiates, a felony, after investigators say she received two packages containing 213 opium poppies purchased from a Canadian mail-order company. When the U.S. Postal Service delivered the packages May 31, undercover detectives were monitoring the delivery.
Once she accepted the packages, she was placed under arrest, said sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita.
"She claimed that she had bought it for floral arrangements for an Iranian wedding that she was involved in," Tita said. "That seemed highly unusual, considering her husband was arrested two months earlier."
She also was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and felony possession of cocaine.
Her husband, Davoud Khanalizadeh, was arrested in a similar operation this spring.
He was charged with trafficking in opium after he received a large package containing 2.2 pounds of opium on March 21. The package was mailed from Tehran and caught the attention of U.S. Customs agents after it arrived in the mail at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
Reached Monday at the couple's home on 360 Wellington Ave. in Oldsmar, Davoud Khanalizadeh, who also goes by David, said the couple was "just totally devastated" by the charges but declined to give further details.
"They are not true," he said. "But what can we do? We are going through due process."
The couple is free on bail.
In a sworn statement included in the search warrant, sheriff's Det. Eugene R. Lebrecht said opium poppies can be ground in a coffee grinder and boiled in water to make poppy tea. When the tea is consumed, users can get an opiate high that can last several hours. The tea also can leave a residue that can be eaten or smoked.
A postal inspector flagged the packages when they were delivered to the Oldsmar Post Office at Bayview Boulevard on its way to the couple's home. After reading the mailing label and viewing the company's Web page, the inspector got a federal search warrant to search the packages.
"They did a more thorough examination of it and brought it to our attention," Tita said. "We, too, examined it further; and we decided we would go ahead and make a case of it."
Lab tests determined that the poppies contained morphine and codeine, which are found in opium, according to court records.
Investigators set up an undercover operation for mail carriers to deliver the packages with the Sheriff's Office watching, Tita said.
An arrest report showed that Davoud Khanalizadeh is a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran and has lived in Oldsmar since January. He was a naval aviator in Iran in the late 1970s.
"This is really going to destroy our lives," he said.
That isn't good. They are supposed to be legal for floral arrangements...
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June 9, 2008 - sltrib.com
Airlines veterans face felony charges over poppy seedpods
'It's the same as possessing cocaine or heroin,' says Summit County prosecutor
PARK CITY - They're pretty to look at. You can buy them over the Internet. And a Summit County prosecutor concedes they're practically everywhere.
Nonetheless, an airline pilot and his flight attendant fiancée are facing a felony charge for possession of opium poppies - or more specifically, the dried seedpods from opium poppies.
Park City residents Bruce Sanchez and Cynthia Owens were bound over for trial last week by 3rd District Judge Bruce Lubeck for possession of opium poppies, a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
They also face misdemeanor charges for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
The pair pleaded not guilty. A trial has yet to be scheduled.
Sanchez and Owens say they lost their jobs at Delta Air Lines as an outcome of the criminal investigation. Each had worked for the airline for more than 20 years.
The details of their departure are sketchy. The veteran pilot said he was suspended without pay and chose to retire and claim pension benefits. Owens said she was fired.
A Delta spokeswoman said the airline would not comment.
An attorney for Sanchez, Richard Mauro, maintained the couple had purchased dried ornamental poppy seedpods over the Internet for decorative purposes. Further, he questioned whether the seedpods seized during a Sept. 20 narcotics strike-force raid were that of the opium poppy species, Papaver somniferum.
But in a preliminary hearing, botanist and Brigham Young University Professor Emeritus Stanley Welsh testified with "absolute certainty" that the seedpods were from the opium poppy.
Summit County Prosecutor Paul Christensen noted that the 40 seedpods and a small amount of marijuana seized from the couple's bedroom indicated they were not involved in drug trafficking.
But he added that the case would go forward because possessing any part of the opium poppy - except the seeds - is illegal, whether or not they were dried.
"It's the same as possessing cocaine or heroin," Christensen said, "because the Utah Legislature says so."
Park City police Capt. Rick Ryan said that because the criminal case has yet to be adjudicated, he could not comment on what led police to the Ontario Avenue residence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A postal inspector flagged the packages when they were delivered to the Oldsmar Post Office at Bayview Boulevard on its way to the couple's home. After reading the mailing label and viewing the company's Web page, the inspector got a federal search warrant to search the packages.
"They did a more thorough examination of it and brought it to our attention," Tita said. "We, too, examined it further; and we decided we would go ahead and make a case of it."
why the hell would they flag a package out of the blue?
i call bullshit, they knew that the husband was trafficking in drugs and inspected his/her incoming mail...they dont magically just see someones package and decide to do internet research on it,find that its a pod vendor and get a search warrant to open the package
the police were involved with this case from the beginning ,the way they say it went down doesnt add up.......
An attorney for Sanchez, Richard Mauro, maintained the couple had purchased dried ornamental poppy seedpods over the Internet for decorative purposes. Further, he questioned whether the seedpods seized during a Sept. 20 narcotics strike-force raid were that of the opium poppy species, Papaver somniferum.
these peoples house was raided by the dea? and in the process they found some pot plants, a few poppy pods and some pipes, the police were alerted by one of the couples "friends" that the couple had been
indulging in illegal drug use...being utah that apparently means swat team the place..
the couples lawyer told the police that the couple purchased the plants off of the internet...
? St. Petersburg Times
published June 18, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OLDSMAR -- Pinellas County sheriff's detectives recently returned to the tan stilt home with large bay windows where in March they arrested a 47-year-old man for receiving opium mailed to him from Iran.
But this time investigators were looking for his wife.
Jill Khanalizadeh, who turns 47 today, was charged with trafficking in opiates, a felony, after investigators say she received two packages containing 213 opium poppies purchased from a Canadian mail-order company. When the U.S. Postal Service delivered the packages May 31, undercover detectives were monitoring the delivery.
Once she accepted the packages, she was placed under arrest, said sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita.
"She claimed that she had bought it for floral arrangements for an Iranian wedding that she was involved in," Tita said. "That seemed highly unusual, considering her husband was arrested two months earlier."
She also was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and felony possession of cocaine.
Her husband, Davoud Khanalizadeh, was arrested in a similar operation this spring.
He was charged with trafficking in opium after he received a large package containing 2.2 pounds of opium on March 21. The package was mailed from Tehran and caught the attention of U.S. Customs agents after it arrived in the mail at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
Reached Monday at the couple's home on 360 Wellington Ave. in Oldsmar, Davoud Khanalizadeh, who also goes by David, said the couple was "just totally devastated" by the charges but declined to give further details.
"They are not true," he said. "But what can we do? We are going through due process."
The couple is free on bail.
In a sworn statement included in the search warrant, sheriff's Det. Eugene R. Lebrecht said opium poppies can be ground in a coffee grinder and boiled in water to make poppy tea. When the tea is consumed, users can get an opiate high that can last several hours. The tea also can leave a residue that can be eaten or smoked.
A postal inspector flagged the packages when they were delivered to the Oldsmar Post Office at Bayview Boulevard on its way to the couple's home. After reading the mailing label and viewing the company's Web page, the inspector got a federal search warrant to search the packages.
"They did a more thorough examination of it and brought it to our attention," Tita said. "We, too, examined it further; and we decided we would go ahead and make a case of it."
Lab tests determined that the poppies contained morphine and codeine, which are found in opium, according to court records.
Investigators set up an undercover operation for mail carriers to deliver the packages with the Sheriff's Office watching, Tita said.
An arrest report showed that Davoud Khanalizadeh is a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran and has lived in Oldsmar since January. He was a naval aviator in Iran in the late 1970s.
"This is really going to destroy our lives," he said.
That isn't good. They are supposed to be legal for floral arrangements...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 9, 2008 - sltrib.com
Airlines veterans face felony charges over poppy seedpods
'It's the same as possessing cocaine or heroin,' says Summit County prosecutor
PARK CITY - They're pretty to look at. You can buy them over the Internet. And a Summit County prosecutor concedes they're practically everywhere.
Nonetheless, an airline pilot and his flight attendant fiancée are facing a felony charge for possession of opium poppies - or more specifically, the dried seedpods from opium poppies.
Park City residents Bruce Sanchez and Cynthia Owens were bound over for trial last week by 3rd District Judge Bruce Lubeck for possession of opium poppies, a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
They also face misdemeanor charges for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
The pair pleaded not guilty. A trial has yet to be scheduled.
Sanchez and Owens say they lost their jobs at Delta Air Lines as an outcome of the criminal investigation. Each had worked for the airline for more than 20 years.
The details of their departure are sketchy. The veteran pilot said he was suspended without pay and chose to retire and claim pension benefits. Owens said she was fired.
A Delta spokeswoman said the airline would not comment.
An attorney for Sanchez, Richard Mauro, maintained the couple had purchased dried ornamental poppy seedpods over the Internet for decorative purposes. Further, he questioned whether the seedpods seized during a Sept. 20 narcotics strike-force raid were that of the opium poppy species, Papaver somniferum.
But in a preliminary hearing, botanist and Brigham Young University Professor Emeritus Stanley Welsh testified with "absolute certainty" that the seedpods were from the opium poppy.
Summit County Prosecutor Paul Christensen noted that the 40 seedpods and a small amount of marijuana seized from the couple's bedroom indicated they were not involved in drug trafficking.
But he added that the case would go forward because possessing any part of the opium poppy - except the seeds - is illegal, whether or not they were dried.
"It's the same as possessing cocaine or heroin," Christensen said, "because the Utah Legislature says so."
Park City police Capt. Rick Ryan said that because the criminal case has yet to be adjudicated, he could not comment on what led police to the Ontario Avenue residence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A postal inspector flagged the packages when they were delivered to the Oldsmar Post Office at Bayview Boulevard on its way to the couple's home. After reading the mailing label and viewing the company's Web page, the inspector got a federal search warrant to search the packages.
"They did a more thorough examination of it and brought it to our attention," Tita said. "We, too, examined it further; and we decided we would go ahead and make a case of it."
why the hell would they flag a package out of the blue?
i call bullshit, they knew that the husband was trafficking in drugs and inspected his/her incoming mail...they dont magically just see someones package and decide to do internet research on it,find that its a pod vendor and get a search warrant to open the package
the police were involved with this case from the beginning ,the way they say it went down doesnt add up.......
An attorney for Sanchez, Richard Mauro, maintained the couple had purchased dried ornamental poppy seedpods over the Internet for decorative purposes. Further, he questioned whether the seedpods seized during a Sept. 20 narcotics strike-force raid were that of the opium poppy species, Papaver somniferum.
these peoples house was raided by the dea? and in the process they found some pot plants, a few poppy pods and some pipes, the police were alerted by one of the couples "friends" that the couple had been
indulging in illegal drug use...being utah that apparently means swat team the place..
the couples lawyer told the police that the couple purchased the plants off of the internet...