Businessman's plea ends pot-factory case

This is the case in which three judges wrote letters in support of a drug peddler.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It came as somewhat of a surprise to federal drug agents that a lawman and legitimate businessmen were linked to a massive pot factory concealed in a warehouse.
Roger S. Bamberger, assistant U.S. attorney and 23-year veteran of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, reflected on the case that ended Tuesday with the guilty plea of Edwin J. Stupka, 49.
Stupka, the 11th defendant in the case, moved to Tucson, Ariz., from Youngstown around the time the first marijuana trafficking arrests were made in 2003.
He was indicted in May 2006, charged with money laundering (nearly 2 million) and conspiracy to distribute more than a ton of marijuana. He will be sentenced April 3 by U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus in Youngstown federal court.
The advisory sentencing guideline range is nine to 15 years. As part of a plea agreement, Stupka must forfeit his ill-gotten gains -- including a plane and hilltop mansion in Arizona.
Stupka has acknowledged that he attempted to launder 1.7 million through a scheme to buy a chain of Arabica Coffee Houses in Cleveland.
Bamberger said "lady luck appeared on the side of law enforcement" with the discovery of the marijuana farm inside a warehouse at 814 Marshall St. in early 2004. A Youngstown police officer and special agent with the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were taking photos near the warehouse in preparation for an upcoming trial when they smelled marijuana.
He said it was not only one of the largest seizures for the Drug Enforcement Administration -- 3,500 plants in seven rooms -- but some of the participants' backgrounds surprised investigators:
Robert Arroyo had operated Frontier Woodworking and the B & amp;O Station Brewery and Restaurant.
Joseph Pedaline, the warehouse owner, also had Pedaline Iron Works and a heating/air conditioning company. Arroyo and Pedaline had done work on the Poland Library.
Kevin Rouan had the Pyatt Street Produce Co.
William Umbel operated the popular Pyatt Street Diner. Before sentencing in 2005, character/reference letters on his behalf were written to Judge Economus by three local judges -- R. Scott Krichbaum, Robert A. Douglas Jr. and Charles J. Bannon. Judge Economus called the letters self-serving and did not consider them.
Frank Carbon had been the No. 2 man at the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department. He allowed marijuana to be stored in his office space underneath the police academy building on Southern Boulevard in Boardman.
In June 2002, Pedaline was featured with his then-partner, Arroyo, in The Vindicator as co-owners of the B & amp;O. The remodeled train station opened then in its second attempt as a restaurant.
Investigators
Bamberger said the marijuana case was investigated by the Youngstown DEA Task Force, which includes the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit; Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation; police from Boardman, Youngstown, Salem, Warren, Poland Village and Beaver Township; and deputies from the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.
He credited the "investigative acumen" of task force members Kim Nusser, a BCI special agent, Mike Hughes, a Boardman sergeant, and Gary Gruver, an IRS agent, for the airtight case.
"The citizens of the Mahoning Valley were well served by their collaborative efforts," Bamberger said.
The federal prosecutor said the marijuana distribution began as early as 1992 and continued through the summer of 2003. Stupka invested thousands of dollars in the indoor marijuana factory on Marshall Street in 2001.
Investigators learned that the high-grade pot was selling for 3,200 a pound, Bamberger said.
meade@vindy.com