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Emasculating the Right
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Pilot and load master plead guilty in Ecstasy case
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer
May 19, 2006, 5:58 PM EDT
NEW YORK -- A U.S. military pilot and a master sergeant each could face about 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to charges they flew a U.S. Air Force jet from New York to Germany to pick up 300,000 pills of Ecstasy.
Capt. Franklin Rodriguez, 36, and Master Sgt. John Fong, 37, of the U.S. Air National Guard entered the pleas to conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, admitting their roles in the April 2005 flight.
As part of his plea, Rodriguez also agreed to forfeit $726,000 in cash found in a safe in his apartment, a 2001 silver BMW and $49,900 he had deposited to buy a property in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He admitted in court that the money and the car were obtained through drug sales.
Both men said they met in Manhattan as part of the plot to carry the drugs on their C-5A "Galaxy" cargo plane after an official mission to deliver training supplies to the Republic of Georgia.
Rodriguez, the pilot, and Fong, a load master, both of New York City, were arrested after flying the Air Force plane from Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., to Germany and returning to Newburgh.
Federal law enforcement agents watched Fong load bags and boxes into the BMW before approaching the two men and asking to inspect their bags, where 28 bags of pills were found, authorities said.
Ecstasy is a synthetic drug considered part hallucinogen, part amphetamine.
Sentencing was set for Aug. 25.
Federal guidelines in the case call for a sentence between 17 1/2 years and 22 years.
Lawrence Carra, a lawyer for Rodriguez, said his client was "immensely remorseful."
He said Rodriguez had been somewhat cooperative from the time of his arrest after making an "egregious and terrible mistake." Carra said Rodriguez got caught up in the "excitement, the thrill, the avarice, the greed" and could not stop.
The lawyer said the pilot would likely spend about 15 years in prison.
He also said the military had taken steps to have him dishonorably discharged.
Fong's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer
May 19, 2006, 5:58 PM EDT
NEW YORK -- A U.S. military pilot and a master sergeant each could face about 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to charges they flew a U.S. Air Force jet from New York to Germany to pick up 300,000 pills of Ecstasy.
Capt. Franklin Rodriguez, 36, and Master Sgt. John Fong, 37, of the U.S. Air National Guard entered the pleas to conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, admitting their roles in the April 2005 flight.
As part of his plea, Rodriguez also agreed to forfeit $726,000 in cash found in a safe in his apartment, a 2001 silver BMW and $49,900 he had deposited to buy a property in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He admitted in court that the money and the car were obtained through drug sales.
Both men said they met in Manhattan as part of the plot to carry the drugs on their C-5A "Galaxy" cargo plane after an official mission to deliver training supplies to the Republic of Georgia.
Rodriguez, the pilot, and Fong, a load master, both of New York City, were arrested after flying the Air Force plane from Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., to Germany and returning to Newburgh.
Federal law enforcement agents watched Fong load bags and boxes into the BMW before approaching the two men and asking to inspect their bags, where 28 bags of pills were found, authorities said.
Ecstasy is a synthetic drug considered part hallucinogen, part amphetamine.
Sentencing was set for Aug. 25.
Federal guidelines in the case call for a sentence between 17 1/2 years and 22 years.
Lawrence Carra, a lawyer for Rodriguez, said his client was "immensely remorseful."
He said Rodriguez had been somewhat cooperative from the time of his arrest after making an "egregious and terrible mistake." Carra said Rodriguez got caught up in the "excitement, the thrill, the avarice, the greed" and could not stop.
The lawyer said the pilot would likely spend about 15 years in prison.
He also said the military had taken steps to have him dishonorably discharged.
Fong's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
