Three charged in federal meth conspiracy case
By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer on Apr 26, 2013, at 1:47 AM Updated on 4/26/13 at 5:20 AM
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The plaintiff alleged in a lawsuit that he was made to perform pushups to avoid a ticket or jail.
Hilliard Andrew Fulgham is accused of killing Linda Wright, 45, and Dorothy Lindley, 60, in 2006.
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A man whose conviction in a federal firearms case was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994 was arraigned Thursday in a methamphetamine conspiracy case.
Harold Edward Staples III, 59, is charged along with his son, Christopher Dean Staples, 29, and Buel Dean Hamilton, 61, in an indictment that was filed April 8 by a federal grand jury in Tulsa. The charges were made public when the three men appeared in court Thursday.
They are accused of conspiring beginning in December 2009 to "coordinate and orchestrate the transportation of methamphetamine" and to maintain locations in northeastern Oklahoma "for the purpose of distributing, storing and selling drugs."
Harold Staples also is charged with using firearms to protect drugs and drug proceeds.
He was convicted in December 1990 of possessing an assault weapon that had been converted into a fully automatic rifle. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction in May 1994, saying it couldn't be proven that Staples had full knowledge of the gun's capabilities.
Before that, Staples was described in news accounts as "the key prosecution witness" in the 1989 federal wiretapping trial of a man who was found guilty of tapping telephone lines during a divorce dispute.
In the new case, all three defendants are charged with maintaining a place in the 4800 block of South 49th West Avenue for the purpose of storing, distributing and using methamphetamine.
Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of that property as well as land in the 2100 block of North Lewis Place, in the 2600 block of East Marshall Street and the 2600 block of East Newton Street.
Harold Staples is free on bond. Christopher Staples and Hamilton were in the Tulsa Jail on Thursday and are set for detention hearings Tuesday.
Original Print Headline: Man charged in federal meth conspiracy case
Legal
The plaintiff alleged in a lawsuit that he was made to perform pushups to avoid a ticket or jail.
Hilliard Andrew Fulgham is accused of killing Linda Wright, 45, and Dorothy Lindley, 60, in 2006.
CONTACT THE REPORTER
918-581-8359
Email
