Bail Denied for 90-Year-Old Drug Suspect

[BlueMystic]

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbc...cle?AID=/20050 709/APA/507090995


Bail Denied for 90-Year-Old Drug Suspect
The Associated Press
July 9, 2005

A federal judge ordered a 90-year-old woman and her 60-year-old son jailed without bail on drug charges, saying they might represent a danger to the community if freed.

Lucious Westry, also known as "Big "Mama," and son Calvin Westry pleaded innocent Friday. Defense attorneys asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Bert Milling Jr. to let them stay with Calvin Westry's daughter until the case is resolved, but he refused.

"I'm not concerned about a risk of flight," the magistrate judge said. "I am concerned about the danger to the public because of a long-standing drug activity in that community."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell presented evidence that Lucious Westry is the matriarch of a crime family that engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to sell street drugs, including crack, and prescription medications, such as OxyContin, from their home.

Nine others, mostly relatives of the Westrys, also face drug charges.