cannabisnews.com: Five Marines in Brig on Drug Smuggling Charges! Five Marines in Brig on Drug Smuggling Charges! Posted by FoM on December 30, 1998 at 08:59:13 PT CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. Five Marines who were arrested by customs agents as they tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with illegal drugs are in the Camp Pendleton brig facing drug smuggling charges. On Tuesday, officials confirmed that four Camp Pendleton Marines and a fifth who is assigned to the Marine Corps' Mountain Warfare Training Center at Bridgeport had been arrested. Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that U.S. servicemen have helped Mexican drug rings smuggle cocaine and marijuana into California, using military training or positions to their advantage. ``It's an anomaly,'' Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Eric Dent told The San Diego-Union Tribune, noting that the five are only a handful of thousands of Marines. There are some 43,000 Marines assigned to Camp Pendleton alone, he said. However, he said the Marine Corps has ``zero tolerance'' for drug use. Meanwhile, Navy officials said no local sailors are awaiting trial on drug smuggling charges. The five Marines are accused of carrying between 52 to 87 pounds of marijuana in vehicles while trying to cross into the United States from Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing, Dent said. Cpl. Bradley Meaney, who was charged Aug. 11 and arraigned last month, was charged with possessing 79 pounds of marijuana. He is assigned to the mountain warfare facility near Bridgeport in Mono County. His court-martial will likely be late next month. Lance Cpl. Paul Richardson, who is assigned to the helicopter squadron HMLA-369 at Camp Pendleton, was arrested Nov. 14 at San Ysidro. He allegedly had 52 pounds of marijuana in the vehicle he was driving. A military preliminary hearing is set for January. Cpl. Dallas Turbeville was arrested at San Ysidro Nov. 27, allegedly in the possession of 87 pounds of marijuana and while on unauthorized absence. He is assigned to the 1st Force Service Support Group. A hearing is set for next month. Two Marines, Cpls. Jon Harris and T.M. Eutsey, were charged together with possession of 86 pounds of marijuana when they were stopped while crossing the border Dec. 12. Both are assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron 1 at Camp Pendleton. Their preliminary hearing is pending. If found guilty, each of the Marines could be sentenced to 40 years in federal prison, loss of pay, demotion to private and dishonorable discharge. Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by jennifer hall on September 04, 2001 at 18:19:16 PT: marines Iam married to a marine and was recently married to a former marine that is know facing 3 years for possesion and other things,my husband is know facing 10 years with good time maybe 4-7 but it doesnt look good.i know that if they werent trained to fight and use there guns in battle maybe they wouldnt think there so hard core.it doesnt help much that the higher ups in the marine core like leutenents and up there the ones that get the drugs started in the marine core,i know by living on base the were several drug raids that were on base and the higher ups were having all the lil boots working for them,but the boots of course were the ones that got caught.i have e few friends that still didnt get caught and they told me.i feal if you want a good team them you should have all around good people working for the goverment and that would stop alot of this,if they would just open the eyes...half of the marines yes they are idiots and do stupied things but the rest of them werent like that before they joined,my quistioned is who showed them to be that way.when you say they all rapiest or other names you must be forgetting that blacks,whites mexicans and all other races do the same thing thats just putting them into a group!!!.our goverment sucks or just the marine core itself,there not teaching them right,and theres to much of the wrong thing going on there at camp pendlton.....but whos to stop it?????? sincerly,concerned citizen [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by jaymie on August 18, 2001 at 23:46:58 PT: marines I do not know what it is about marines.....it seems they are always getting into trouble.....if there not raping women in okinawa, there drinking and being charged for it..i recently read about the marine at camp pendleton who was charged in the death of a law enforcement officer and his bail is 1 million......MARINES, clean up your act or get off the planet........ [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: