Judge Orders Life Sentence for Florida Keys Drug Smuggler — Who Worked for the U.S. State Department?
July 29th, 2010Via: Key News:
An admitted drug smuggler who carried millions of dollars in hash oil and marijuana in the keels of sailboats through the Florida Keys will spend the rest of his life in prison, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The life sentence of Juergen Heinz Williams, also known as Juergen Werthmann, was the last chapter in a bizarre trial that harkened back to the days when Keys waters teemed with “square grouper.”
Prosecutors convinced a jury in January that Williams spearheaded a conspiracy to smuggle hash oil from Jamaica into Monroe County, and then north into Canada, where it was distributed.
The same jury acquitted two co-defendants — Morgan Lynch, owner of MD Custom Cycles in Key Largo, and Howard Bornstein, a Key Largo online seafood purveyor.
A September 2009 trial for the three men ended in a hung jury, prompting a retrial that began Jan. 4.
Williams surprised prosecutors when he took the stand in the latter trial and admitted he took part in the conspiracy, even correcting government witnesses who understated the scope of his operation.
Some witnesses testified that there were a total of two or four loads of hash oil, but Williams testified that the true number was closer to seven.
One witness testified that one drug run brought in about $1 million for the conspirators, but Williams said he made closer to $5.5 million in the venture.
Williams also raised eyebrows when he admitted under oath to smuggling drugs, but did so, he testified, while acting as an operative of the U.S. State Department. He later fired his attorney, Joel DeFabio of Coral Gables, for not arguing that point before jurors.
