Beyond the Cabin
Page 23
One of the paralegals opened the door to the lobby.
“AUSA Greenwood is ready for you,” she said. “Follow me.”
The three agents followed her to the large conference room. AUSA Ray Greenwood sat at the head of the sizable rectangular table. Greenwood had a reputation as being uncompromising and gruff. The former JAG officer kept himself in good shape and his tailored suit showed off his physique. His thick salt and pepper hair and gleaming white teeth made him look younger than fifty-five. He used every inch of his six foot, four-inch frame to intimidate his opponents. He stood when the agents entered.
“Good morning,” he said with an outstretched arm.
Each agent shook his hand prior to taking a seat.
“Ray, this is Lexie Montgomery,” Don said.
“Nice to meet you, Lexie. I’ve heard all about your ordeal. How’re you feeling?”
“I’m doing much better. Thank you for asking.”
“I wanted to briefly meet with you three before the U.S. Marshals Service brings in the defendant.”
“Is his attorney here?” Don asked.
“Yes. He’s in the other room talking to his client.”
“Good, because we have some news to share with you before the interview.”
“Good news I hope.”
“Go ahead, Lexie. Tell him what you found this morning.”
Lexie gave the AUSA a rundown of the camera evidence and pulled out copies of the DVD for him.
“This one is a compilation of the key events from all the different cameras.”
Ray took the DVD and played it on his laptop, while Lexie pointed out the individuals.
“Nice work. I’ll keep this in my hip pocket to see if he tries to lie to us today.”
The agents took their positions, with Don sitting next to AUSA Greenwood. Ready for action, Greenwood called for the Deputy U.S. Marshal to bring Connors to the interview room.
A few minutes later, the Deputy Marshal brought Connors and his attorney to the room. Connors, dressed in his orange prison inmate uniform, looked pale and nervous. He shuffled into the room, his leg chains forcing him to take small steps. His hands were cuffed to a chain around his waist.
“You want his hands free?” the Deputy Marshal asked AUSA Greenwood.
Greenwood nodded, so the Deputy Marshal removed the handcuffs.
Connors sat down in the chair to the left of his attorney.
AUSA Greenwood spoke. “Good morning, Mr. Connors and Mr. Slater. Let me introduce everyone. These are the three FBI agents working the investigation: Special Agents Donald West, Zachary Sheehan, and Alexis Montgomery.”
The color drained from Connors’s face as he realized the agent in front of him was the girl from the cabin.
Greenwood glared at Connors. “I take it you recognize Special Agent Montgomery, Mr. Connors.”
Connors’s shoulders slumped and his scruffy jaw sagged. He looked utterly defeated.
Attorney Slater looked at his client, then looked at AUSA Greenwood. He sighed and shook his head.
“Agents, this is Mr. Connors’s attorney, Sebastian Slater.”
Sebastian Slater’s fashion sense bordered on Mafioso style. He confidently wore a black and white bold pinstripe, mars-vested, three-piece suit. His obsidian eyes were mostly hidden behind his black rimmed glasses.
“Mr. Connors, I am Assistant United States Attorney Ray Greenwood. I understand that you have discussed this matter with your attorney and you are here today to enter into a proffer agreement. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Did your attorney explain everything in the proffer letter to you?”
“He did.”
“Do you understand that you have to be completely honest with us during this interview? If you are not honest with us, then the agreement is null and void and we can use your statement against you.”
“I understand.”
“If you have any questions during this interview, you may stop and confer with your attorney.”
Connors nodded.
“Let’s begin. Please state your full name for us.”
“Clayton Monroe Connors.”
“Mr. Connors, what was your role in the drug organization?”
“You talk like I worked for Pablo Escobar. It wasn’t like that. Our organization was small. I was only the pilot.”
“Don’t try to minimize your involvement, Mr. Connors.”
“I’m not. I wasn’t running the group.”
“Who was running the organization?”
Connors hesitated. Slater leaned over and whispered in his ear. Connors nodded, then answered the question.
“Aaron Jacobson. Aaron organized and financed the group. We all worked for him.”
Don took notes while Greenwood asked the questions.
“Tell me about Aaron Jacobson.”
“His dad owns some big land development company. The family is filthy rich.”
“How did you first meet Jacobson?”
“I went to college with him. We played baseball together at the University of South Carolina. We both thought we were going to play pro ball, but that didn’t quite work out for either one of us.”
“What happened?”
“Aaron tore his ACL our junior year and I threw my arm out my first year playing on a farm team. Aaron and I remained friends after college.”
“Did Aaron Jacobson have any nicknames?” Don asked.
“He didn’t want any of the others in the organization to know his identity, so he had me call him Ghost Runner.”
“Were you the only one who knew about Jacobson?”
“Yes. He didn’t trust any of the rest of them.”
“Tell us the hierarchy of the organization,” Greenwood said. “From the top to the bottom. Don’t leave anyone out. In fact, why don’t you draw an outline on paper for us.”
Connors drew a simple chart showing Aaron Jacobson at the top with himself listed just below Jacobson. The chart showed Otis Ray and Jack further down the organization along with several names that Lexie did not recognize. Connors listed all participants, including the cocaine supplier, who he only knew as Black, a person from St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.
Don pulled out a photo lineup with six photos of Caucasian males around the same age. He showed the lineup to Connors.
“Do you recognize anyone in this photo array?”
Connors and his attorney both looked at it closely.
“Yep,” Connors said as he pointed to the last photo in the first row. “That’s Otis Ray.”
“Do you know Otis Ray’s last name?”
“Prichard.”
“Is the Otis Ray in the photo the same Otis Ray you’re referring to in your organizational chart?”
“How many Otis Rays can there be?”
“Just answer the question,” his attorney warned.
“Yeah. One and the same.”
“Please circle the person on the sheet that you know as Otis Ray Prichard and put your initials beside the photo.”
Connors did as he was instructed.
“How long has Otis Ray Prichard been working for you?” Don asked.
“Technically, he works for Aaron, I just supervise the operation.”
Don sighed.
“He’s worked for us for a couple of years, I guess. It’s not like we have a job application process. We needed a boat captain and he filled the ticket. Personally, I think he’s a dick, but he gets the job done.”
Don pulled out a second photo lineup and showed it to Connors.
“Do you recognize anyone in this photo array?”
Connors leaned forward to get a closer look at the six photographs.
“Yeah. His hair is longer in this photo, but that’s Jack,” he said, pointing at the second photo on the sheet.
“Do you know Jack’s last name?”
“I think it’s Stone. Want me to circle this one, too?”
“Yes.”
“Let me make sure I got this straight,” AUSA Greenwood said. “You fly to the U.S. Virgin Islands to get the cocaine. You fly the cargo back to South Carolina. After you offload on Cat Island, Otis Ray Prichard loads it on his boat and takes it to the mainland to resell.”
“I don’t fly to the Virgin Islands. That’s too far for my seaplane. Black has a person who transports the cargo to various locations in Florida. Black gives me a location in Florida. I fly there, his people load up my plane, and I leave.”
“And by cargo you mean cocaine?”
“Yes.”
“How many loads do you fly a month?”
“It varies. I probably average two trips a month.”
“How much cocaine do you pick up on each trip?”
“Anywhere from twenty to fifty kilos. My largest load was one hundred kilos, but I only carried that much one time. We’re not running cartel quantity, just enough for a side business.”
Don looked up from his notes when Connors said that.
“I’m doing the math over here and that is way more than merely a side business,” Don said. “You said you’ve been doing this for roughly two years?”
“Yes.”
“At a minimum that’s nine hundred and sixty kilos. The street value of that much cocaine is over twenty-eight million dollars.”
“We didn’t make that much. We had to pay for the cocaine, pay my expenses, pay for the boat expenses, and hire employees.”
“Who distributed the cocaine in the area?”
“That I don’t know. I turned the load over to Otis Ray and he took it from there. He and Jack took care of the distribution end.”
“When you say Jack, are you referring to the person you identified as Jack Stone from the photo array?” Greenwood asked.
“Yes.”
“How much were you paid?”
Connors hem hawed around before answering.
“Ten thousand a trip.”
“Where’s the money?” Don asked.
“I spent it.”
“You’re telling me you spent a half a million dollars in two years?”
“Yeah. That’s not that much money. How much do you make?”
Don shook his head in disbelief.
Once he got started, Connors had no problem giving up all the people in the operation that he knew. It was evident that the only person he cared about was himself.
Lexie saw Greenwood and Don exchange glances. She knew that they were about to hit Connors with the heavy stuff. The drug organizational chart was a warmup to what was about to come.
“Does anyone need a break?” Greenwood asked.
No one did, so he continued with the interview.
“Tell us about the day you met Ms. Montgomery,” Greenwood said, pointing to Lexie.
“I never laid a hand on her. She’ll tell you that.”
“I want to hear your account, Mr. Connors.”
“I landed and unloaded my cargo. I usually drop my load then leave, but before I could leave, Jack came in carrying her,” he said, nodding toward Lexie. “He’d smashed her head pretty good. I thought she’d be dead by morning.”
“Why didn’t you help her?” Don asked.
“What was I supposed to do? I’m no doctor.”
“You could have taken her to a doctor.”
“None of us knew who she was or why she was spying on us. Otis Ray thought she was some kind of cop, or snitch. Aaron has a couple of good connections, so I figured I’d contact him.”
“When you say Aaron, you’re referring to Aaron Jacobson?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?” Greenwood asked.
“Jack and I flew the plane out of there and left her with Otis Ray. He was supposed to watch her until we could figure out what to do with her.”
“When you say her, you mean Agent Montgomery?”
“Yeah. That’s who I mean.”
“What happened when you contacted Aaron Jacobson?”
“I told him what had happened. He said he was going to call an associate and that he would get back to me.”
“Did he get back to you?” Greenwood asked.
“Yeah. He sent me over to meet this friend of his in Murrells Inlet.”
“Did you go alone?”
“No. I took Jack with me.”
“What happened at the meeting?”
“Aaron’s associate told us that the FBI was investigating the bridge attack and they were using a female undercover agent to do it. He gave us her address.”
“Does this guy have a name?”
“I’m sure he does but I don’t know what it is. We met him in the corner of the parking lot like we were instructed to. He gave us the information and we left.”
“Describe him.”
“Tall, skinny, white guy. Probably fifty years old. He was losing his hair, but what he had was gray.”
“How tall?”
“Taller than me. Around six foot.”
“Did you pay him?”
“Yeah.”
“How much?”
“Five grand.”
“Where did you get the money to pay him?”
“From Aaron.”
“Then what happened?”
“We went to the chick’s condo.” Connors glanced over at Lexie. “I mean, we went to the agent’s condo, broke in, and searched for clues.”
“You already knew she was an FBI agent, so what kind of clues were you searching for?” Don asked.
“Aaron wanted us to find out if there were more agents working the case. He wanted to know if we needed to stop our business in the area. We had a shipment planned for the end of the week and we needed to know if it was safe to bring it in or if she had other people working with her.”
“May I ask a question?” Lexie said.
“Of course,” Greenwood responded.
“How did your drug organization tie into the Earth Liberation Front bombing of the bridge and the other eco-terrorist activities in the area?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, come on. We know the drug organization is linked to the eco-terrorist attacks. Prichard was shot in the arm during one of the attacks.”
Connors looked at his attorney for an indication whether he should answer. Attorney Slater nodded at him.
“That was Aaron’s idea. Aaron’s father bought that land out on Spirit Island. He planned to make millions with his high-end resort. The only way to make building the resort feasible was to build the bridge. Aaron realized that the bridge and the resort would bring too much attention to our little section of the world. He tried to talk his father out of the project, but his father is a real douchebag. All he cares about is money and he wasn’t going to give up the project. So, Aaron came up with the idea to scare his father away from the project in the guise of an eco-terrorist attack. He learned about the Earth Liberation Front from his older brother out in Portland. His brother is a big ELF sympathizer.”
“Were there any environmental activists involved in the terrorist activities?” Lexie asked.
“No. All the participants were Aaron’s people. He told everyone what to do and how to make it look like an ELF attack. Aaron wanted to scare off his father, but hadn’t planned on getting the FBI involved. He also hadn’t planned on his father being so damn stubborn.”
“To confirm,” Lexie said, “Otis Ray Prichard was shot in the arm during the fake ELF action.”
“Yes. That’s the main reason he was hiding out on the island. He didn’t want anyone to notice his injury.”
“Did he seek medical attention?” Greenwood asked.
“No. It was a through and through wound, so we cleaned it and wrapped it up to heal.”
Lexie wrote a note to AUSA Greenwood and passed it over to him. Greenwood read it and nodded.
“Did you track down the boat owner?” Greenwood asked.
“What boat owner?”
“Don’t play games with us, Mr. Connors. The agreement you entered clearly stated that you have to be completely honest regarding your knowledge and involvement in the crimes. Agent Montgomery heard you talking, so we know that Jack Stone found the boat that she used to get to the island. She also heard you talking about the boat registration. Did you track down the boat owner?”
“We tried to but we couldn’t find him. We went to the address listed on the registration, but he wasn’t home.”
“Mr. Connors, I know you’re lying to me. I’m going to ask you one more time, did you have any contact with the boat owner or the boat owner’s brother?”
Lexie could hear the leg chains jangling as Connors bounced his foot.
Connors lowered his head and whispered, “I need a few minutes alone with my attorney.”
***
The prosecution team gave Connors the room for a private conversation with his attorney. While on break, Greenwood led the team to the break room and offered them coffee. Lexie took him up on the offer. The coffee was old and had a slightly burnt flavor, but she needed the caffeine. Greenwood munched on a trail mix bar and washed it down with a bottle of water. None of the team wanted to speak for fear of jinxing the almost perfect interview, so they all sat quietly. Zach had stayed behind to stand guard outside the door. The U.S. Marshals Service temporarily put Connors in the custody of the FBI for the interview, so one of the agents had to stay close in case something happened.
Greenwood threw away his wrapper and empty bottle.
“Ready for round two?” he asked.
Don and Lexie nodded and the trio returned to the interview room. Zach stood patiently at his post. Greenwood rapped on the door and opened it.
“Are you ready to resume?” he asked the attorney.
Slater looked at his client, then back at Greenwood.
“We are, but I need to discuss an immunity matter with you before we begin.”
AUSA Greenwood took Sebastian Slater to his office to discuss the matter. The agents were instructed not to question Connors until they returned. The three agents and Connors sat in uncomfortable silence for twenty minutes. Finally, the door opened and Greenwood stuck his head in the room.
“Would you three please join me in the hall? Mr. Slater needs to confer with his client.”
Zach, Don, and Lexie stepped outside the door. Greenwood walked down the hall far enough that Connors and Slater couldn’t overhear his conversation.