Five California men have been charged in Nebraska for their alleged roles in a drug and money laundering conspiracy involving the transportation of thousands of pounds of marijuana and millions of dollars in drug proceeds across the country. Â
U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said the investigation by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations dates back to September 2019.
On Thursday, two of the five made their first court appearances in federal court in Omaha on the charges: conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
If convicted, Eric Thibodo, 54, of Malibu, and Evan Bowen, 45, of Garberville, would face at least 10 years and up to life in prison.
Both were released on conditions and will be monitored by the U.S. Probation and Pre-Trial Services agency.
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Russell said David Leidermann, David Bose, and James Reja also were charged in the same indictment but have yet to make court appearances.
Leidermann, the suspected leader of the organization, and Bose were arrested in the Los Angeles area. Reja has not yet been arrested.
In the affidavit for their arrests, Craig Allrich, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said it started Sept. 12, 2019, when the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Interdiction Unit arrested Tyler Gooch with 90 pounds of marijuana, 3,000 vape pens, 30 pounds of THC shatter concentrate, and a pound of psilocybin mushrooms in his pickup.
Through the investigation, he said, they learned the drugs were bound for eastern Nebraska.
A related traffic stop Jan. 19, 2020, turned up more than $200,000 in cash that smelled of drugs in a trash bag. Thibodo was the passenger.
Allrich said investigators searched his phone and found discussions of the delivery of narcotics from Chicago to Omaha.
They also searched a home in Papillion, where Thibodo had been, and found 111 pounds of marijuana, 32 pounds of THC shatter and 5 pounds of THC oil. Allrich alleges Thibodo delivered the drugs.
He said phone records led to other alleged co-conspirators and to a FastBox warehouse in New York, which led to a traffic stop in the Oklahoma City area that turned up roughly $3.9 million of suspected narcotics proceeds.
Allrich said that on May 7, 2020, HSI executed multiple search warrants on FastBox locations, containers and an employee’s residence, as well as storage units in California, Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City and New York. It turned up 55,000 THC vape pens and over $1.6 million in suspected drug proceeds.
Allrich said texts and audio messages discovered as part of that investigation indicated Leidermann had been directing the FastBox shipments. Bank records showed employees had deposited $1.4 million in cash between 2017 and 2020, he said.
He said FastBox created the appearance that it was a legitimate moving company when it really was being used to transport drugs and drug proceeds. Allrich said Leidermann and Reja started the company in 2014 as a marijuana and marijuana byproduct delivery company.
They are suspected of using the FastBox service to move marijuana and marijuana proceeds between California and the other FastBox locations, according to Allrich's affidavit.