California police officer arrested in Va. drug sting
By Allison Klein
Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 04/17/2012 TheWashingtonPost
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/crime-scene/post/california-police-officer-arrested-in-va-drug-sting/2012/04/17/gIQAjb6BOT_blog.html

A California police officer and his retired co-worker were arrested last week in Tysons Corner for allegedly bringing more than 27 pounds of marijuana from California to Virginia, police said.

The men, along with a third accomplice, were charged with conspiracy to import and distribute more than five pounds of marijuana. The estimated street value of the marijuana is $635,000, police said.

Police have charged Selma police officer Frederick Michael Sayles, 34, who lives in Selma; former Selma police officer Gabriel Hernandez Sepeda II, 38, of Fresno; and David Ray Flowers, 38, of Fresno.

The investigation was run by Alexandria police and prosecutors along with the DEA, authorities said. All three men are being held in the Alexandria Detention Center without bond.

Did they advertise on backpages.com?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2015 11:49PM by WingNut.

27 pounds sold by the half gram might be worth that much. LOL

Tyson Corner is innocent until proven guilty. Did the officer have jurisdiction on Va? I smell a cover up.

They always estimate that the high end pot is worth about $400/ounce. So 27 * 16 * 400 = $172,800.00 Whenever there is a drug bust it always seems the estimated value of the drugs is inflated, this is 3.6 times the value calculated at $400/ounce. If you could sell 27 pounds of pot for $635,000.00 I think there would be a lot more people traveling back and forth between CA and VA.

"If you could sell 27 pounds of pot for $635,000.00 I think there would be a lot more people traveling back and forth between CA and VA."

QFT.

FWIW, this is the kind of number that pops up in the "legalize it & get the tax $$$$ from this amazing dollar amount" posts. Look, it should be legal, but crappy arguments are just that...

Even at $15 per half gram you can't get close to $635,000.00

27 pounds * 16 ounces = 432 ounces
28 grams in an ounce so
432 ounces * 28 grams = 12096 grams in 27 pounds
double that to account for half grams = 24192 half gram packages
24192 * 15 = $362,880.00 that's just over half of their estimated value

I wonder if there is some benefit to inflating the value of drugs seized, like an extra couple percent on department merit increases or bonuses for the department with the highest value of seized drugs in a year?

Don't know about internal "bonuses", but these wildly inflated numbers are used in the county's budget hearings - usually to justify more police $$$.

Why am I not surprised that 2 of them are from Fresno aka the armpit of California.

27 pounds of marijuana? That's not enough to get a turtle high!
Attachments:

$1500 ounces? I can get el blanco puro for that price, LOL!

They had a 1,000 lb. bust in the Myrtle Beach, SC area recently. Yeah, KP is badass like that.

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"And if any women or children get their legs torn off, or faces caved in, well, it's tough shit for them." -2LT. Bert Stiles, 505th, 339th (On Berlin Bombardier Mission, 1944).

Alexandria Police Charge Three Men With Conspiracy to Import Marijuana
Three California men have been charged with attempting to import marijuana into Virginia.
By Sharon McLoone
April 18, 2012
http://oldtownalexandria.patch.com/articles/alexandria-police-charge-three-men-with-conspiracy-to-import-marijuana

Alexandria Police have charged three men, including two former California police officers, for conspiracy to import marijuana into Virginia.

The police have charged Californians Frederick Michael Sayles, 34, of Selma and Gabriel Hernandez Sepeda II, 38, and David Ray Flowers, 38, both of Fresno, following a joint undercover narcotics investigation by Alexandria Police, the Alexandria Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The men have each been charged with conspiracy to import more than 5 pounds of marijuana into the state and conspiracy to distribute more than 5 pounds of marijuana. The estimated street value of the marijuana is $635,000.

The three men were arrested on April 12 about 7:30 p.m. in the Tysons Corner area where they were taken into custody by DEA agents. The men were in the process of transporting more than 27 pounds of marijuana into Virginia from California. Sepeda, Sayles and Flowers were taken to the Alexandria Adult Detention Center and held without bond.

Sayles and Sepeda are former police officers with the Selma Police Department in Selma, Calif.

This is an ongoing investigation and additional charges may be pending, according to Alexandria police.

What the f**k it's only weed, why the no bail ???? Even some people accused of murder get bail.

Now this is blog worthy! What an idiot!!

Any chance these former cops where coming into D.C. for a special 4/20 celebration?

don't bogart that joint my friendr. Wrote:
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> Any chance these former cops where coming into
> D.C. for a special 4/20 celebration?

Not sure, but I do recall the times when the police had special functions in Northern VA or D.C. that involved cops from other states. They always had incidents of some kind of crime from police officers behaving badly (from out of state).