Pot Activist Dana Beal arrested with 150 pounds of marijuana
Marijuana Activist Dana Beal -January 2009 / Photo by Wandering Courier
Police stopped the van on Highway 6 just north of Ashland Nebraska, near Interstate 80, because the vehicle was observed “driving erratically,” and the van had obstructed plates. The officer who made the stop, saw that bags of marijuana were plainly visible inside, and called for back-up. Police found the van filled with marijuana, the largest cannabis seizure in Saunders County history, according to Ashland police. The three men were charged with “possession with intent to deliver.” The bail for each of the two other men, Christopher Ryan and James Statzer was set at $100K each. The bail for Irvin Dana Beal was set at $500K.
Beal, a publicly active anti-prohibitionist has been arrested before. His latest arrest was in June of 2008, in Mattoon, Illinois when police responded to a report of two women arguing at a restaurant. Witnesses stated that they’d seen Beal place duffel bags beneath nearby vehicles. Upon further inspection, police found two duffel bags filled with $150K in cash. They reported that the money smelled of marijuana and called in drug sniffing dogs.
Beal was charged with obstruction of justice along with another man for allegedly trying to hide the money for fear the police would search their van. In a plead deal, the obstruction charges were dropped for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, along with paying a $1,300 fine, the cash was not returned.
Put the two incidents together, $150K in cash and 150 pounds of marijuana, and it’s pretty easy to draw the conclusion that Beal was involved in distributing marijuana, and obviously made quite a bit of money doing so.
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