By Julie Manganis
PEABODY — Five men are facing marijuana trafficking charges after state police uncovered a plan to deliver $1.3 million worth of pot to a Peabody business Wednesday.
Police seized 543 pounds of marijuana from the loading dock of a business at 134R Newbury St. (Route 1) after watching several of the suspects exchange a duffel bag full of cash and move 24 boxes from one truck to another behind the Costco in Danvers, prosecutors said.
They later found the duffel bag containing at least $200,000 in cash in a tractor-trailer truck heading south on Route 128 near the Massachusetts Turnpike.
The investigation was touched off when a state police trooper received information that Brian Toto, 42, of Revere was involved in a large-scale marijuana trafficking operation, prosecutor Ashlee Logan told a judge during the men's arraignments yesterday in Peabody District Court.
The trooper, joined by other state police officers, as well as Danvers, Peabody and Lynn officers and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, began conducting surveillance along Route 1 on Wednesday. They watched as a rented box truck began traveling up and down the roadway, apparently trying to evade surveillance, police say.
The box truck eventually pulled into a parking lot near the Route 114 exit, where a tractor-trailer truck also parked.
Police watched as a pallet of boxes was unloaded from the tractor-trailer and onto the box truck. Phillip E. Watson, 37, of Saugus, allegedly acted as a lookout as Toto handed the two men in the truck a black duffel bag.
Police then followed the box truck, which, they said, again appeared to be trying to avoid detection, up and down Route 1 to a business where Michael Schrimpf, 36, of Saugus, works.
Schrimpf was seen opening one of the boxes as police moved in to make the bust. When he saw the officers, he ran, Logan told Judge Robert Brennan.
Police then stopped the tractor-trailer and arrested Melvin VanMeter, 39, and R.J. Norton, 41, both of Indianapolis.
All five men are now being held on $250,000 cash bail on charges of marijuana trafficking over 200 pounds and conspiracy to violate the controlled substance laws.
Two of the men, Schrimpf and Watson, had already posted $10,000 bail set by a clerk at the state police barracks following their arrests. They were taken back into custody in the courtroom yesterday.
Logan told the judge the pot has an estimated street value of $1.3 million.
Lawyers for the truck drivers say their clients had no idea there was marijuana in the truck. They say the two had been told to deliver the boxes to a Lynn address, then were called and told they would have to bring the boxes to a different location.
"There's nothing (in the report) to suggest they looked in the boxes," said lawyer Arthur Carakatsane, who was appointed to represent Norton during his arraignment.
Logan argued that such a large load of marijuana would give off an odor that would have been hard for the drivers to miss.
And Brennan suggested that it's not typical for truck drivers to be paid after a delivery with a bag full of cash.
Court papers did not provide the name of the business where the pot was delivered, but Schrimpf's lawyer said it was a company that supplied printer cartridges and toner and described Schrimpf as a salesman for the business.
A status hearing is scheduled for June 18, but the case is expected to be presented to a grand jury for indictment, which would move the case to Superior Court.
The men are facing a minimum mandatory three-year prison term and up to 15 years behind bars if convicted.
