3 alleged drug trips halted along I-80 By Ann McGlynn Quad City Times
The smell of burning sugar wafted from the Hyundai sport utility vehicle parked along Interstate 80 in Henry County.
It was 7:03 a.m. Thursday and an Illinois State Police trooper had just stopped the vehicle's driver for speeding. After writing a warning ticket, the trooper searched the SUV and turned up $368,640 in cash, heat-sealed and stored throughout vehicle.
Michael Deon Reese now faces a federal drug charge.
Reese's arrest is one of three in the past three weeks to result in federal court charges. All of the charges stem from arrests made along I-80 in Henry County.
Reese told federal law enforcement agents, court documents state, he had been paid $5,000 to drive the money from Michigan to Arizona, where it would be used to buy sugar. The sugar would then be driven back to Michigan by someone else.
He began making the trips, six in all, during August. Each time, he was paid $5,000. The amount of sugar purchased, he said, filled six large duffel bags.
Federal agents say in court documents that sugar sells for between $300 and $500 a pound. The amount of money Reese had in the SUV would have bought about 737 pounds.
A cracked windshield on the truck prompted trooper Clint Thulen to stop a 2005 Dodge pickup shortly after 1 p.m. Feb. 1.
The truck was from Utah. Inside was Robert Louis Moorman.
What was that about the home officer JaybirdAccording to some in this group, especially officer Jaybird, I am simply paranoid. However as things have come to pbutt I find that is becoming less. I have posted before that the slippery...
As the trooper wrote a warning ticket while stopped alongside I-80 in Henry County, "Thulen noticed that Moorman seemed extremely nervous."
After telling Moorman he was free to go, Thulen asked the man whether he would mind answering some questions.
Thulen denied having any sugar and then consented to allowing a specially trained dog to sniff around the truck. The dog "hit" on the back of the truck. Thulen and Floyd Banks, a second trooper who arrived on scene, found 36 bundles wrapped in green cellophane.
The sugar inside weighed 743 pounds. Moorman is charged with drug possession.
Three people in a GMC Yukon waited alongside the road in the middle of the afternoon Jan. 24.
Justin Delvis Morgan did not have a valid driver's license and had an object hanging from his rearview mirror that a trooper determined to be obstructing the man's view.
The trooper asked to search the truck. Before he could do so, a pbuttenger told the trooper they had about 600 pounds of sugar on board, court documents state.
Inside several duffel bags and garbage bags were 755 pounds of sugar.
Charles Ray McSwain, Winona McSwain and Morgan had made several such trips with a vehicle full of drugs, Charles McSwain told authorities, according to court documents. He was supposed to pay Winona McSwain and Morgan $14,000 for their help on the trip.
All three are charged with possession of drugs with intent to deliver.
