Sat Nov 07 2009
Law officers seized more than 1,200 pounds of marijuana at the home of a Frankfort man Monday night - culminating an undercover operation that began in Mexico.
Randy D. Kendall, 49, was arrested without incident at his home at 6505 Flat Creek Road and charged with drug trafficking after officers followed the shipment, valued at nearly $2 million, on its lengthy journey.
Kentucky State Police spokesman Trooper Ronald Turley said KSP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Drug Enforcement Agency launched an investigation in late January and discovered that a large quantity of marijuana would be shipped to Lawrenceburg from Mexico.
The drugs arrived in Charleston Port, S.C., on a ship, where undercover ICE agents helped load the cargo onto a tractor-trailer and accompanied it on a controlled delivery to the suspect's business, Kendell's Quick Lube, 1505 Daniel Drive, in Lawrenceburg last Friday, Turley said.
KSP officers then joined the ICE agents and monitored activity around Kendall's shop.
"We spent Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday doing surveillance so we could make an arrest," Turley said during a Tuesday press conference at the KSP forensic lab on Sower Boulevard.
"It was a great job by investigators to pull this off without anyone getting hurt."
On Monday afternoon, suspects loaded the marijuana, which was sealed inside 320 separate bags of barium sulfate "a powdery chemical used to make plastic" onto a flatbed truck and delivered it to Kendall's Frankfort home.
Officers made the arrest later that night after watching Kendall and an accomplice, who police declined to name, transfer the drugs from the truck to a nearby barn.
Turley said authorities are not yet aware of what plans were in store for the drugs after their arrival at Kendall's home, though the investigation is ongoing.
"We do know this is 1,200 pounds of marijuana that will not reach the streets of Kentucky," he said.
More arrests related to the case are pending, and KSP is now working with the U.S Attorney General's office to determine if additional charges will be filed against Kendall.
Kendall is being housed in the Franklin County Regional Jail on a $10,000 full cash bond, which had not been posted Wednesday morning.
His preliminary hearing in Circuit Court will be Tuesday.
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Next 10 Comments of 24 Total Comments
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24.
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Posted by George Washington March 18, 2008
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When you type in caps does it mean you are yelling or you just really want to emphasize something?
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23.
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Posted by aecarter44 March 15, 2008
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Hey, George, Legalize them ALL, regulate and tax. Prescriptions not required for ANY DRUG! You're an adult, self-medicate all you want. Then you can lower the tax on my cigarettes (yeah, RIGHT!) Law is driving while impaired, NOT just intoxicated. This IS Kentucky after all. Legal AND illegal alcohol and, according to reports I've read, pot is the largest cash crop in the state. Old argument, but prohibition didn't work; neither has "war on drugs."
Not only increase tax base, but look at all the government employees we'd no longer need or have to pay. Overall TAX CUT! |
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Posted by kentuckycat1 March 12, 2008
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Don't let the door hit you on the way out Terrell. We can't imagine you being here with all of us hillbillies and idiots, as sophisticated as you are.
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21.
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Posted by terrell1963 March 10, 2008
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Cue,
Amen brother/sister. As soon as the housing market picks up and we can sell ours, we are gone for good. |
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20.
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Posted by CUE March 7, 2008
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It is a shame that this is the type of idividuals that this county produces. Most have never left the state, don't know anything beyond Franklin county. Here they believe that the way of life is to let your parents/grandparents support you, don't work, get a job and fail to show up on time, just don't show and come back in a few days and wonder why they don't want you back! This is why Frankfort has nothing, nobody wants to move here, the people with any sense go to Lex or Lou!Send your children away from here, they will benefit in the long run!!!!!!
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19.
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Posted by dengler1977@yahoo.com March 7, 2008
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It cost a lot of tax payers money for this man to have a trail,an a trail for this man is all he can pray for because our local judges an upper others in our Capital town will never offer this man a reasonable deal.All in the effort to make all involved or who claim to be have feel some sort merit, an maybe a higher rank meaning more money.Where is all the drug money that has been seized here in Frankfort?Who benefits or what charity an who makes that decisions?No drug should be legal to buy,sale,or grow.As time changes so do morals an laws sorry but thats the American way.SAY NO TO DRUGS
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18.
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Posted by kyproud March 6, 2008
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The only reason that they have not legalized pot is because the government has no way to control it. They can't regulate the sale of it because Somkey Joe can grow it in his basement and sale it on the streets. If they treat it like a cash crop similar to tobacco they could profit from it. Frankly I think that it should be legal to smoke/grow/sale pot, it would clear up a lot of the room in our already over crowded jails.
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17.
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Posted by terrell1963 March 6, 2008
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On Monday afternoon, suspects loaded the marijuana, which was sealed inside 320 separate bags of barium sulfate "a powdery chemical used to make plastic" onto a flatbed truck and delivered it to Kendall's Frankfort home.
********************************** It is not just a component of plastic. BARIUM SULFATE is a radiopaque agent used to diagnose problems with the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Side effects that you should report to your prescriber or health care professional as soon as possible: bloating constipation (severe or continuing) cramping (severe) nausea or vomiting stomach or lower abdominal pain tightness in chest or troubled breathing wheezing You would think the officials would have consulted with the KSP Lab prior to making a misleading statement. I am against legalizing it because there are enough impaired drivers yakking on their cell phones while trying to drive. Most are lucky if they can do anything past breathing. |
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16.
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Posted by RobertF March 6, 2008
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Re: perplexed 7 hours ago
"Lets legalize everything, then the last one standing wins." I would just prefer that all warning labels be removed from consumer products. The only folks still standing would be those with common sense. Utopia! |
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15.
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Posted by sojourner March 5, 2008
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TXJ - You do understand the that the majority of products we regularly consume are chocked full of toxins? So we can reasonably agree that it's not illegal because of it's toxicity. So if it's not the toxins, why then is it illegal. Big money made marijuana illegal. William Randolph Hurst owned a lot of land with a lot of trees to be made into paper for his publications. The usefulness of these trees was threatened by the use of hemp. Dupont the maker of so many chemical synthetic products was threatened by the use of hemp. These two very rich men did an excellent job of conflating hemp with marijuana and put into place the apparatus that produced the laws that made marijuana illegal.
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