Seattle Police Officer Charged in Large Coast-to-Coast Pot-Smuggling Operation

Mike Carter reports: Veteran Seattle police Officer Alex Chapackdee is accused of helping his brother-in-law and others smuggle at least 100 kilograms of marijuana to the East Coast. In return, Chapackdee was paid $10,000 a month, charges allege.

Federal prosecutors will ask that a suspended Seattle police officer charged with being part of a large-scale East Coast marijuana smuggling ring be held in jail pending trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida set a detention hearing Friday for Alex Chapackdee, who faces a mandatory-minimum five-year federal prison sentence — and perhaps up to 40 years — for his role in allegedly transporting hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Washington to Baltimore then driving back with boxes of cash. The court also could impose a fine of up to $5 million if he’s found guilty.

Chapackdee, a veteran Seattle police officer, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Seattle Monday afternoon along with three co-defendants named in a 15-page complaint unsealed Monday. He was arrested last Friday and suspended from duty without pay.

[Read the feds’ complaint against Le, Chapackdee, others (PDF)]

More than two dozens shocked friends and family members crowded Tsuchida’s courtroom during the brief hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vince Lombardi said the serious allegations and significant penalty prompted him to seek detention for all four defendants.

Tsuchida set a preliminary hearing for May 22, though that hearing will be canceled if the grand jury returns an indictment in the case.

Chapackdee’s Seattle attorney, David Gehrke, said after the hearing that his client will fight the allegations. He went on to broadside a “dark ages” federal criminal-justice system where marijuana crimes remain on the books even though “it’s legal to use and possess in every state on the West Coast.”

Possession and use of recreational marijuana is a crime in Maryland … (read more)

Source: The Seattle Times