A New York man was found earlier this month inside an upscale hotel steps away from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville with wads of cash, three firearms and roughly 70 one-pound bags of what investigators suspect is cannabis. But in an unusual move, 26-year-old Jonny Blanco was released from custody three days after his arrest and allowed to return home on a no-cash bail.
Blanco has no ties to the Charlottesville area, and his father, who has vouched for his $10,000 bail, only recently emerged from bankruptcy.
"That’s the dirty, little secret about people arrested in drug cases," longtime criminal defense lawyer Scott Goodman told The Daily Progress. "With that many drugs and weapons, 9 times out of the 10 the person has agreed to be a cooperator to help the police identify other suspects."
"It doesn’t mean that for sure," Goodman continued, "but those are the overwhelming odds when that person is not locked up but released. Nothing else really would explain it."
Even Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis, who has vowed to crackdown on proliferation of guns on the streets on the city, was caught off guard.
"I’m surprised he got bail," Kochis told The Daily Progress. "I think that would be a question for the courts."
Even though at least two Charlottesville detectives participated in the raid, Kochis said that he wasn’t familiar with the case, as it was conducted by the 3A Drug and Gang Task Force, which comprises five regional and two federal agencies.
Detective Nathan Stein executed a search warrant on a guest room at the Graduate hotel on University Avenue at the eastern terminus of the popular Corner shopping district.
"Charlottesville city police were dispatched to room 424 of the Graduate hotel in the city of Charlottesville on the report of a housekeeper who observed money, drugs, and firearms in plain view inside the room," wrote detective Matt McCall in his request for a search warrant.
McCall’s two search warrants turned up more than money, drugs and firearms.
According to inventories filed after the raid, officers also seized two bags containing pink powder, some currency marked by white powder, 13 1/2 pink pills and a plastic bottle containing an amber-color liquid. If any chemical testing on the materials has occurred, it is not yet logged in Blanco’s public file in Charlottesville General District Court.
What is logged is that a judge from neighboring Albemarle County, Matthew Quatrara, initialed an April 11 order allowing Blanco to return to his home state of New York. The record doesn’t indicate which judge approved the bail, dated two days earlier and executed by a magistrate.
The person who has agreed to guarantee a $10,000 payment if Blanco doesn’t return for his next court date is his father, Fehim Hasandjekaj. Federal bankruptcy records indicate that he and his wife, Rufina Blanco, emerged from Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 2022.
Blanco’s prompt release stands in stark contrast to the cases of the dozen out-of-state men who were charged with crimes after participating in the torch-wielding mob that marched across UVa Grounds on Aug. 11, 2017. Many of those men, who were in Charlottesville for the Unite the Right White nationalist rally planned for the following day, were held for months without bail, even though they were prosecuted several years after committing a crime — using fire to racially intimidate — that many claimed they did not realize was illegal. And while the rally on Aug. 12, 2017, would turn violent, ending in the death of anti-racist counterprotester Heather Heyer, none of those men where behind the wheel of the car that struck and killed her and injured many others.
As for Blanco, while Virginia law currently permits households to grow four cannabis plants and lets individuals possess a single ounce, commerce remains illegal. And the law also penalizes those who keep guns with any quantity of the hallucinogenic plant with a minimum two-year sentence in addition to any sentence for distribution.
Arrested amid the raid, Blanco was charged with a felony: possession of more than 5 pounds with the intent to distribute. A conviction carries a sentence of five to 30 years. Blanco, who has addresses in White Plains and Lagrangeville, New York, reportedly has no criminal record.
Along with ammunition and gun magazines, the three guns seized were a Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 semi-automatic rifle, a Taurus G2C semi-automatic pistol and another pistol made by Smith & Wesson.
While city police spokesman Kyle Ervin said he did not know whether additional charges are expected, investigators appear not to have waited for the test results of the 70 bags of suspected cannabis, vacuum sealed and stored in suitcases.
Among the seized items was a gray Ford 150 pickup truck. If there was any doubt that the truck, which reportedly contained a $5 bill containing white powder, was connected to Blanco, he cleared that up as a tow truck hauled the vehicle away.
"According to Det. Stein, Jonny Blanco made a spontaneous utterance about the hotel towing his truck and pointed out his truck to Officer Devon Turner," according to McCall’s narrative.
While Blanco reported working for a firm called Roxxon Inc. of which he is the owner and which holds the title to the pickup truck, he informed the magistrate that he had no income or assets and was assigned a lawyer from the Office of the Public Defender. Attorney Hayley Setear has already begun handling his case, but Setear told The Daily Progress she would not be commenting.
If the prospect of causing his father to incur a $10,000 penalty is not sufficiently onerous to compel Blanco’s return, it appears that authorities not only have the guns and drugs they seized from Room 424 at the Graduate. They also kept the pickup truck, two Apple iPhones, an Apple laptop computer and four packages of what appears to be plant material marked "hemlock."
A toxic compound from a plant by that name was used to execute the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates after authorities found him guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens.
Blanco is slated to return to Charlottesville General District Court on May 8.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
Be First to Comment