On October 3, 2012, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho announced that Anthony Stoner of Boise, Idaho pleaded guilty to selling illegal drug paraphernalia a local store called Smoke N Accessories LLC.  The business is located on 6419 Ustick Road in Boise.  

Mr. Stoner is part of 8 defendants charged in the last two months for selling illegal drug paraphernalia.  The following defendants are still waiting to be sentenced: Gabriel Adam Busby, Bradley Berquist, Yoke Fee Chan, Janet Shirley, Antonio Mendoza, Adam Daniel Schreiner, Crystal Blumke, and Thomas Blumke.  There defendants are part of the 16 different individuals charged in May of 2011 under Operation Not for Human Consumption.  The operation targeted the illegal sales of paraphernalia and specifically targeted the synthetic marijuana called “spice.”  

According to U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho, “It is against federal law to sell or offer for sale any paraphernalia that is primarily intended or designed for drug use, regardless of whether the seller advices their customers that the paraphernalia is for tobacco use only.  The businesses are commonly referred to as “headshops.””

Such shops are in a grey area as far as legality.  As mentioned above, the sale of drug paraphernalia is illegally under federal law, even equipment that is marketed for tobacco only.  However, state laws often determine if such a shop can operate or not.  Idaho has taken strong steps to limit the amount of these shops in the state and the type of products they are allowed to sell.  The state’s stance contrasts state laws in bordering states like Oregon and Washington.  

The Operation Not for Human Consumption was a cooperative effort between the DEA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, FBI, the ICE’s HSI, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and multiple local and state police offices.  

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

On October 4, 2012, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced that Barrett Lancaster Brown was charged by a federal grand jury in for one count of making a threat over the internet, for one count of threatening to make personal information of a U.S. employee available to the public, and one count of retaliating against a federal law enforcement officer.  Brown is from Dallas and was apprehended in September.  

On October 4, 2012, the US Marshals Service announced that Edward Salas, a 15 Most Wanted fugitive, was arrested in Chihuahua City.  The U.S. Marshals Service coordinated with the Policia Federal Ministerial to arrest Salas.  

Salas was added to the 15 Most Wanted list in December 0f 2011.  The U.S. Marshals Service reports that Salas is a convicted child killer but escaped from the Curry County Detention Center in Clovis, New Mexico in August of 2008.  He was serving a life sentence and an additional 56 years for murdering Carlos Perez, a 10-year-old boy.  

The murder occurred on September 15, 2005.  Salas and his brothers, Orlando Salas and Demetrio Salas, planned to murder the brother of Carlos, Ruben Perez, in retaliation after an argument occurred at the Clovis High School.  The brothers and two individuals killed Carlos Perez instead as he was sleeping in his bedroom.  

U.S. Marshal for the District of New Mexico Conrad E. Candelaria stated, “Many New Mexico communities will breathe a sigh of relief because fugitive Salas, a child killer, will no longer outrun the justice that is long awaited.  On behalf of the Marshals Service I extend heartfelt and sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones impacted by the horrible crime committed by Salas and other accomplices.”

After Salas escaped from prison in New Mexico, he fled to Friona, Texas until November 27, 2008.  He fled Texas after a close incident with law enforcement.  

The U.S. Marshals Service reports that Salas is the second 15 Most Wanted fugitive caught in the last three months.  Another fugitive, Vincent Legrend Walters, was caught in Cancun, Mexico after he was on the U.S. Marshal’s most wanted list for just under 24 years.  

Candelaria also noted, “This is another example of the extraordinary efforts by the Marshals Service, in partnership with many law enforcement agencies efforts to pursue those fugitives who strike at the core of our communities.”

Source: U.S. Marshals Service

On October 6, 2012, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Mustafa Kamel Mustafa (Abu Hamza), Adel Abdel Bary, and Khaled al Fawwaz were extradited from Great Britain and arrived in the Southern District of New York.  

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated, “As is charged, these are men who were at the nerve centers of al Qaeda’s acts of terror, and they cause blood to be shed, lives to be lost, and families to be shattered.  Now, Abu Hamza, Adel Abdel Bary, and Khaled al Fawwez will finally face justice.”

Abu Hamza is charged for a hostage situation that occurred in Yemen in 1998 and led to four deaths.  He is also charged with trying to forms a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon in 1999 and supporting violent terrorists throughout Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001.  

Adel Abdel Bary and Khaled al Fawwez are charged for conspiring with multiple members of al Qaeda in order to kill United States nationals and attack U.S. international interests.  Bary is also suspected of “murder, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, and other offenses in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.”  The bombings killed 224 people and injured thousands.  

Abu Hamza is charged with 11 different offenses that amount to two life sentences and another 100 years in prison.  Fawwaz is charged with four different offenses that amount to four life imprisonment terms.  Bary is charged with 284 offenses and the maximum penalty of 17 life imprisonment terms and another 15 years in prison.

FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Mary Galligan stated, “The extraditions of Abu Hamza, Bary, and Fawwaz are a major milestone in our effort to see these alleged high-level terrorists face American justice.  The indictments allege the direct participation of these defendants in planning and carrying out some of the most odious acts of al Qaeda terrorism.”

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation