106 ft Yacht used to smuggle cocaine
10-10-2013, 08:50 AM
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106 ft Yacht used to smuggle cocaine
http://gossipextra.com/2013/10/09/se...lm-beach-3045/
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ne...f-cocai/nbJ7q/
WEST PALM BEACH —
Moored at a marina off Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach and nestled between other million-dollar yachts is the M/Y Secret Spot. The 106-foot Lazzara vessel has a jacuzzi, a swim platform, a deck shower, and according to federal agents, about 620 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth between $5 million to $6 million.
The yacht’s captain Jon Paul Costenbader — who has worked with the Discovery Channel for shark week and Spike TV for a series on surviving disasters — faces federal charges after agents say they saw the 34-year-old removing duffel bags of cocaine from the yacht and into a pickup truck at the Palm Harbor Marina.
According to the yacht’s website, Costenbader also received his 100 ton master’s captain license in 2006 and has 10 years of experience with a charter scuba diving boat in the Bahamas. Diana Nyad, who recently swam from Cuba to Key West, credits a Jon Costenbader as part of her Shark Safety Team during that trek, according to her blog.
Also arrested and facing federal charges for the Sunday smuggle was Steven Torello Davis, 26, who the feds say was the intended recipient of the drug, and 33-year-old Michelle Caribe Daniel, of Jupiter, who allegedly admitted to carrying the bags of the cocaine from the cockpit to the vessel’s salon.
The owner of the boat is unclear, and a Marshall Islands flag waves from the back of the yacht, which is for sale for $4,595,000. The sale is being brokered by HMY Yachts, located at the marina. A spokeswoman with the company declined to comment Wednesday.
Palm Harbor Marina manager John Smundin said he learned of the arrests Wednesday.
“We’re flabbergasted to say the least,” Smundin said. “It doesn’t represent the types of clients we have here …”
Smundin declined to say who owns the yacht or for how long the yacht has anchored there.
The yacht was first spotted Sunday by U.S Customs and Border Protection’s aircraft, which was conducting surveillance about 30 miles from Palm Beach County. About three hours later Homeland Security Investigations agents saw the Secret Spot enter the Lake Worth Inlet, through the Intracoastal Waterway and dock at the Palm Harbor Marina. That’s when they saw Costenbader move duffel bags into the truck, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Agents from border protection, homeland security and the Drug Enforcement Administration approached Costenbader, who said his last port of call was in the Bahamas and he had not reported in with Customs. The agents asked what was in the bags and Costenbader replied, “cocaine.” He was then taken into custody.
When reached by phone Wednesday, Costenbader’s sister declined to comment.
The agents, now including the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, then boarded the vessel and came across Daniel inside the salon, where more bags of cocaine were found.
Costenbader told investigators he received the cocaine that day from a small vessel offshore of the Bahamas, and planned on distributing the cocaine to Davis. Daniel said once the bags were moved from the small vessel to the yacht, she helped move them from the cockpit to the salon, knowing what the bags contained.
“She was a victim of circumstance,” Daniel’s father Michael Daniel said Wednesday when reached by phone. “The wrong place at the wrong time.”
Agents, with the help of Costenbader, conducted a controlled delivery with Davis using fake cocaine. After the exchange concluded, the investigators took Davis into custody. Davis said he was expecting to receive about 200 bricks of marijuana and/or cocaine from Costenbader and admitted to agreeing to meet with Costenbader to receive cocaine, the complaint says.
Davis, Daniel and Costenbader all remained in custody late Wednesday, facing charges of conspiracy to import more than 5 kilos of cocaine and conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver more than 5 kilos of cocaine. Daniel and Costenbader are expected to be in court Thursday morning.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ne...f-cocai/nbJ7q/
WEST PALM BEACH —
Moored at a marina off Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach and nestled between other million-dollar yachts is the M/Y Secret Spot. The 106-foot Lazzara vessel has a jacuzzi, a swim platform, a deck shower, and according to federal agents, about 620 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth between $5 million to $6 million.
The yacht’s captain Jon Paul Costenbader — who has worked with the Discovery Channel for shark week and Spike TV for a series on surviving disasters — faces federal charges after agents say they saw the 34-year-old removing duffel bags of cocaine from the yacht and into a pickup truck at the Palm Harbor Marina.
According to the yacht’s website, Costenbader also received his 100 ton master’s captain license in 2006 and has 10 years of experience with a charter scuba diving boat in the Bahamas. Diana Nyad, who recently swam from Cuba to Key West, credits a Jon Costenbader as part of her Shark Safety Team during that trek, according to her blog.
Also arrested and facing federal charges for the Sunday smuggle was Steven Torello Davis, 26, who the feds say was the intended recipient of the drug, and 33-year-old Michelle Caribe Daniel, of Jupiter, who allegedly admitted to carrying the bags of the cocaine from the cockpit to the vessel’s salon.
The owner of the boat is unclear, and a Marshall Islands flag waves from the back of the yacht, which is for sale for $4,595,000. The sale is being brokered by HMY Yachts, located at the marina. A spokeswoman with the company declined to comment Wednesday.
Palm Harbor Marina manager John Smundin said he learned of the arrests Wednesday.
“We’re flabbergasted to say the least,” Smundin said. “It doesn’t represent the types of clients we have here …”
Smundin declined to say who owns the yacht or for how long the yacht has anchored there.
The yacht was first spotted Sunday by U.S Customs and Border Protection’s aircraft, which was conducting surveillance about 30 miles from Palm Beach County. About three hours later Homeland Security Investigations agents saw the Secret Spot enter the Lake Worth Inlet, through the Intracoastal Waterway and dock at the Palm Harbor Marina. That’s when they saw Costenbader move duffel bags into the truck, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Agents from border protection, homeland security and the Drug Enforcement Administration approached Costenbader, who said his last port of call was in the Bahamas and he had not reported in with Customs. The agents asked what was in the bags and Costenbader replied, “cocaine.” He was then taken into custody.
When reached by phone Wednesday, Costenbader’s sister declined to comment.
The agents, now including the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, then boarded the vessel and came across Daniel inside the salon, where more bags of cocaine were found.
Costenbader told investigators he received the cocaine that day from a small vessel offshore of the Bahamas, and planned on distributing the cocaine to Davis. Daniel said once the bags were moved from the small vessel to the yacht, she helped move them from the cockpit to the salon, knowing what the bags contained.
“She was a victim of circumstance,” Daniel’s father Michael Daniel said Wednesday when reached by phone. “The wrong place at the wrong time.”
Agents, with the help of Costenbader, conducted a controlled delivery with Davis using fake cocaine. After the exchange concluded, the investigators took Davis into custody. Davis said he was expecting to receive about 200 bricks of marijuana and/or cocaine from Costenbader and admitted to agreeing to meet with Costenbader to receive cocaine, the complaint says.
Davis, Daniel and Costenbader all remained in custody late Wednesday, facing charges of conspiracy to import more than 5 kilos of cocaine and conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver more than 5 kilos of cocaine. Daniel and Costenbader are expected to be in court Thursday morning.
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10-10-2013, 04:47 PM
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Update: They had just delivered 485 lbs back in August.......boat is back in owner's possession.
Sunday’s alleged smuggling venture wasn’t the first time captain Jon Paul Costenbader cruised into the Atlantic Ocean on the yacht Secret Spot to pick up cocaine. And it wasn’t the first time his girlfriend — 33-year-old Michelle Caribe Daniel — accompanied him on the voyage, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Costenbader, 34, and Daniel were in court for their detention hearings. The two — along with 26-year-old Steven Torello Davis — have been in custody since Sunday. That’s when federal agents say they saw Costenbader at the Palm Harbor Marina on Flagler Drive unloading duffel bags of cocaine from the 106-foot yacht to a pickup truck.
Costenbader later helped agents with a controlled delivery of sham cocaine to Davis. All three face charges of conspiracy to import more than 5 kilos of cocaine and conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver more than 5 kilos of cocaine.
Costenbader’s attorney Grey Tesh waived the detention hearing, which keeps Costenbader in jail for the time being.
Daniel’s attorney Val Rodriguez asked a magistrate judge to consider house arrest and said Daniel’s parents, who came to the hearing, would put up their two homes as collateral. While trying to convince the judge that Daniel is not a danger to the community or a flight risk, Rodriguez said it is not clear at what point Daniel knew the bags she was moving around were filled with cocaine.
Much of Daniel’s detention hearing was spent circling around her allegedly admitting to agents that she knew there was cocaine in the duffel bags.
The bags contained about 620 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth between $5 million to $6 million.
Rodriguez grilled Sullivan, questioning if he or any other agent asked Daniel at what point did she know the bags contained cocaine. Rodriguez compared his client’s case to the 1992 film ‘My Cousin Vinny’ where two boys were accused of a crime they didn’t commit and said: “It reminds me of ‘My Cousin Vinny’… This isn’t ‘My Cousin Vinny’, this is very serious.”
Daniel’s attorney also mentioned his client has a masters degree in medicine and has traveled the world for her studies.
“She just unfortunately ended up on a boat that had a lot of cocaine,” he said.
The judge in the end decided to deny a bond for Daniel and ordered she remain in detention.
“Congress has created a presumption in these kinds of drug cases that the defendant poses a danger to the community and a risk of flight,” he said. “That presumption is strengthen by the fact that this is a huge amount of cocaine and this is the second huge load of cocaine that the defendant was involved in.
“I might have felt differently if the defendant had only been involved in one of these cocaine importation trips,” the judge said.
On Aug. 18, Costenbader and Daniel allegedly used the yacht to smuggle 485 pounds of cocaine worth about $550,000. Agents said the yacht’s log book and the defendants’ passports corroborated the trip.
Investigators also searched the house where Costenbader and Daniel sometimes live in the north county area. Inside, they found two pistols, one long gun, about 55 grams of cocaine and more than $200,000 in cash.
“He’s presumed innocent and these are just allegations at this point,” Tesh said of Costenbader outside of the courtroom.
Tesh spoke highly of Costenbader and spoke of his past experience with charter scuba diving and participating in Diana Nyad’s Shark Safety Team during her swim from Cuba to Key West.
As for the owner of the yacht, who has yet to be named, Tesh said the man has nothing to do with the smuggle operation.
“My understanding is that he had nothing to do with it,” he said.
As for the luxury charter yacht? It’s in the owner’s possession, and is on the market for almost $5 million.
Sunday’s alleged smuggling venture wasn’t the first time captain Jon Paul Costenbader cruised into the Atlantic Ocean on the yacht Secret Spot to pick up cocaine. And it wasn’t the first time his girlfriend — 33-year-old Michelle Caribe Daniel — accompanied him on the voyage, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Costenbader, 34, and Daniel were in court for their detention hearings. The two — along with 26-year-old Steven Torello Davis — have been in custody since Sunday. That’s when federal agents say they saw Costenbader at the Palm Harbor Marina on Flagler Drive unloading duffel bags of cocaine from the 106-foot yacht to a pickup truck.
Costenbader later helped agents with a controlled delivery of sham cocaine to Davis. All three face charges of conspiracy to import more than 5 kilos of cocaine and conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver more than 5 kilos of cocaine.
Costenbader’s attorney Grey Tesh waived the detention hearing, which keeps Costenbader in jail for the time being.
Daniel’s attorney Val Rodriguez asked a magistrate judge to consider house arrest and said Daniel’s parents, who came to the hearing, would put up their two homes as collateral. While trying to convince the judge that Daniel is not a danger to the community or a flight risk, Rodriguez said it is not clear at what point Daniel knew the bags she was moving around were filled with cocaine.
Much of Daniel’s detention hearing was spent circling around her allegedly admitting to agents that she knew there was cocaine in the duffel bags.
The bags contained about 620 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth between $5 million to $6 million.
Rodriguez grilled Sullivan, questioning if he or any other agent asked Daniel at what point did she know the bags contained cocaine. Rodriguez compared his client’s case to the 1992 film ‘My Cousin Vinny’ where two boys were accused of a crime they didn’t commit and said: “It reminds me of ‘My Cousin Vinny’… This isn’t ‘My Cousin Vinny’, this is very serious.”
Daniel’s attorney also mentioned his client has a masters degree in medicine and has traveled the world for her studies.
“She just unfortunately ended up on a boat that had a lot of cocaine,” he said.
The judge in the end decided to deny a bond for Daniel and ordered she remain in detention.
“Congress has created a presumption in these kinds of drug cases that the defendant poses a danger to the community and a risk of flight,” he said. “That presumption is strengthen by the fact that this is a huge amount of cocaine and this is the second huge load of cocaine that the defendant was involved in.
“I might have felt differently if the defendant had only been involved in one of these cocaine importation trips,” the judge said.
On Aug. 18, Costenbader and Daniel allegedly used the yacht to smuggle 485 pounds of cocaine worth about $550,000. Agents said the yacht’s log book and the defendants’ passports corroborated the trip.
Investigators also searched the house where Costenbader and Daniel sometimes live in the north county area. Inside, they found two pistols, one long gun, about 55 grams of cocaine and more than $200,000 in cash.
“He’s presumed innocent and these are just allegations at this point,” Tesh said of Costenbader outside of the courtroom.
Tesh spoke highly of Costenbader and spoke of his past experience with charter scuba diving and participating in Diana Nyad’s Shark Safety Team during her swim from Cuba to Key West.
As for the owner of the yacht, who has yet to be named, Tesh said the man has nothing to do with the smuggle operation.
“My understanding is that he had nothing to do with it,” he said.
As for the luxury charter yacht? It’s in the owner’s possession, and is on the market for almost $5 million.
