Pikesville Jewelry Store Owner Sentenced to Over 3 Years in Prison
JCK Staff -- JCK Online, 10/20/2009 2:36:01 PM
Eugene Petasky, owner of Metro Brokers Jewelers Ltd.in Maryland, was sentenced Monday to 41 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to launder drug proceeds.
According to a release from Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Petasky knowingly accepted at least $336,000 in cash from drug traffickers from at least 1982 until November 27, 2006 in exchange for jewelry.
According to the release, Petasky's plea agreement also included that he knew that the money he was accepting was the proceeds of drug trafficking. Drug dealers repeatedly brought drug proceeds to him to disguise the true nature and source of those funds, and Petasky agreed to accept those funds and assist the drug dealers. Petasky also intentionally concealed the nature of those transactions (and the money involved) by failing to file required tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service and by structuring certain transactions to make them appear legitimate.
