Last Week’s Drug Arrests Nabbed 10

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Shenandoah Valley Herald:

Raids Came After Two Years Of Investigations, More Charges Likely

By Jimmy LaRoue



Edinburg - “Shag” has been snagged.
And so have nine other men in a drug sting by the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
County deputies and federal agents arrested Richie Hansford “Shag” Conner, 53, at his house in Edinburg Sept. 11.
He is being charged with eight counts of knowingly and intentionally distributing and possessing – with intent to distribute – 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.
Search warrants were executed at his home, and at the business Conner owns, Shag’s Lumber Yard, on Old Valley Pike south of Edinburg, the sheriff’s office said.
The arrest follows a two-year investigation by the sheriff’s department and federal authorities.
“For years, we suspected this activity on the drug side,” said Shenandoah County Sheriff Timothy C. Carter. At first, Carter said there was “never anything more than suspicion.”
Carter said he has heard some of the rumors floating around the last week about Conner’s arrest, particularly with associations Conner may have had and how he spent his money.
“I don’t try and glamorize the guy,” Carter said. “In my mind, he was dealing drugs and that’s nothing to glamorize about.”

Said Carter: “People have made him into this mythical figure. But he’s not a mythical figure to me. He’s a drug dealer.”
The sheriff acknowledged that Conner knew “a lot of people.”
“But that doesn’t mean any of them are tied up in the investigation,” Carter said.
The investigation is ongoing, he said, and believes there will be more indictments and charges coming for Conner.

“I’m pretty confident of that,” Carter said.
He said that could take several months, though, as deputies and the IRS have to go through his financial records.
“His finances were very diverse, so that’ll take awhile,” Carter said.
In addition, county deputies and federal agents arrested nine other men last week, including six from Winchester, for conspiring to sell, give or distribute a controlled substance – believed to be cocaine.
All nine were arrested at 9175 John Marshall Highway in Lebanon Church. Conner owned the home where the nine arrests took place, but Carter did not elaborate on whether there was any further connection between the men and Conner.
The men arrested include Florentine Bautista-Martinez, 33, of Winchester, Marcelo Sanchez-Cypriano, 24, of Winchester, Luis Antonio Busts-Ramirez, 33, of Martinsburg, W.Va., William Gilbert Spence, Jr., 51, of Strasburg, Daniel Edward Santiago-Enriques, 28, of Winchester, Andres Onzura-Burciaga, 28, of Winchester, Rigoberto Manchame, 29, of Cincinnati, Ohio, Jonathan Ortiz-Hernandez, 21, of Winchester and Raul Armando Vega, 32, of Winchester.
Bautista-Martinez, Sanchez-Cypriano, Busts-Ramirez and Spence, as Conner, were arrested Sept. 11. The others were arrested two days later. The estimate street value of drugs seized in those two raids was between $65,000 and $140,000.
All but one of the eight Hispanic suspects have identified as illegal immigrants. Vega is the lone immigrant in the country legally, but he’s wanted in Ohio on other drug charges, according to the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office.
Carter said the IRS and DEA were helpful in making the county’s case.
The nine men are being held in the Shenandoah County jail without bond, with a court date set for Sept. 28 at 9 a.m. in General District Court.
Conner is held without bond, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Harrisonburg declined to say where he is being held. No trial date has been set, according to Bruce Pagel, an assistant U.S. Attorney based out of Harrisonburg.

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Northern Virginia Daily

Days before arrest, feds sought 'Shag' properties



By Preston Knight

(Daily Staff Writer)

EDINBURG — Less than a week before a local lumber yard owner was indicted on charges of distributing methamphetamine, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia filed notices to seek forfeiture of 29 properties the man bought for more than $4 million.

Richie Hansford "Shag" Conner, 53, of 14093 S. Middle Road, and owner of Shag's Lumber Yard at 13977 Old Valley Pike, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing meth, distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing meth and six counts of meth distribution on Sept. 5.

According to online court records, he was placed into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service last week after pleading not guilty in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.

Conner, who was arrested Sept. 11, is being held without bond.

The conspiracy lasted from the beginning of 2005 until the indictment was returned, according to court records, while the distribution charges were the result of seven incidents earlier this year.

In notices signed Aug. 31 by Sharon Burnham, the assistant U.S. attorney for the district, and recorded in Shenandoah County Circuit Court on Sept. 11, the federal government is also seeking forfeiture of any property that may have contributed to the commission of the drug offense or that represents proceeds from the illegal activity.

The U.S. government is seeking $5 million, "in that such sum in aggregate was obtained directly or indirectly as a result of the aforestated offense or is traceable to such property," according to the indictment.

Conner, who under his name and the title Shag's Property LLC owns more than 100 properties, has 29 pieces of land facing forfeiture for which he paid $4.099 million, records show. They are scattered throughout the county and include residential houses and undeveloped property, totaling approximately 1,100 acres.

The most Conner paid in any purchase was $643,000 in a transaction completed on Jan. 9, 2006, records show. He bought five parcels, as Shag's Properties LLC, from Valley View Inc. The address was only listed as Valley View subdivision in the Madison Magisterial District.

The second-highest purchase came on Dec. 19, 2006, when Conner paid Wayne Davis Jones and Mary Vessie Jones $610,000 for two tracts totaling 77 acres near Hudson Cross Road (Va. 720).

The earliest purchase among the 29 came on Dec. 2, 1993, when Conner bought 13 acres north of Bowman's Crossing and northwest of U.S. 11 for $190,000.

The properties span the county, with one located in Timberville in Rockingham County. Conner owned land on Secession Lane in New Market, along Main Street in Mt. Jackson and several properties in Edinburg, including on South Middle, Edinburg Gap and Wolf Gap roads.

On Sept. 11, four men were arrested on drug charges at 9175 John Marshall Highway in Lebanon Church, another property that the federal government is seeking from Conner. He bought it in April for $200,000, records show.

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Lumber yard owner's property nets nine arrests

All hit with charges related to what authorities believe to be cocaine

By Sally Voth

(Daily Staff Writer)

LEBANON CHURCH — An Edinburg lumber yard owner busted on federal drug charges owns the home where nine men were arrested over two days last week, Shenandoah County Sheriff Timothy C. Carter said Monday.

Richie Hansford "Shag" Conner, 53, of 14093 S. Middle Road, is being held without bond as he faces eight methamphetamine charges. He owns Shag's Lumber Yard at 3977 Old Valley Pike.

The same day — Sept. 11 — that Conner was arrested by agents with the Sheriff's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, four men were arrested at a house he owns, located at 9175 John Marshall Highway, in Lebanon Church.

William Gilbert Spence Jr., 50, who lives at the house; Florentine Bautista-Martinez, 33, of 711 Brenda Court, Winchester; Marcelo Sanchez-Cyprian, 24, of 1107 Allen Drive, Winchester; and Luis Antonio Bustos-Ramirez, 33, of Martinsburg, W.Va., were all charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance.

That substance was believed to be a pound of cocaine, Sheriff's Office Maj. Scott Proctor said.

Two days later, five more men were arrested on cocaine charges at the same house, he said.

Daniel Edward Santiago-Enriques, 28, of Dogwood Avenue, Winchester, and Andres Onzura-Burciaga, 28, of 140 Dowell J Circle, Apt. 1, Winchester, were both charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Rigoberto Manchame, 29, of Cincinnati; Jonathan Ortiz-Hernandez, 21, of 1120 Franklin St., Apt. 2, Winchester; and Raul Armando Vega, 32, of the Relax Inn, Winchester, were charged with conspiracy.

"This particular case [the Sept. 13 arrests] involved approximately 10 ounces of cocaine," Proctor said. "It's a street value of $25,000 to $50,000."

Vega is the only one of the men besides Conner who doesn't have an immigration detainment filed against him, according to Proctor, although he is wanted for possession of cocaine in Ohio. All of the men are being held without bond, he said.

Proctor wouldn't say if the Lebanon Church arrests were connected to Conner's case.

"I can't comment on the details of the investigation," he said. "It's part of an ongoing drug investigation."

Carter confirmed that Conner owns the house at 9175 John Marshall Highway. He's concerned that news of Conner and his arrest seems to have taken on mythical proportions. "I think some people are kind of making him into some kind of an urban legend," Carter said. "As far as I'm concerned, he's a drug dealer."

All this buildup has led to rumors that numerous other people have been arrested, he said, which isn't true.

"I guess it comes because of the people he has had dealings with, whether it's business dealings or social dealings or whatever," Carter said.

It will take a "considerable amount of time" for investigators to go through all the records and information connected to the case, he said.