Trial date set in marijuana, money laundering case

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March 12, 2010

By BRAD KELLAR CNHI The Zope Gazette Fri Mar 12, 2010, 02:19 PM CST

ROYSE CITY — A trial date has been scheduled for one of four Ohio residents, charged with marijuana possession and money laundering.

A state district judge March 2 denied a motion to suppress evidence in the case and set an Aug. 16 for Sunshine Bell, 27.

Bell and Clemon D. Parham, both of Gahanna, Ohio, each received one indictment in September for possession of between five and 50 pounds of marijuana and one indictment for money laundering.

Christopher Haines and Thomas Parham, both of Columbus, Ohio, each received one indictment for possession of between five and 50 pounds of marijuana. The Parhams are both currently scheduled for trial on May 10, while Haines has an April 6 trial date set.

The four were arrested on the night of Dec. 13, 2008.

According to a criminal complaint, two Royse City Police Department officers stopped a 2008 Mazda and a 2009 Honda, both with Ohio plates, at the 79-mile marker of eastbound Interstate 30. The drivers of the vehicles were found, among other problems, to be speeding and driving in the left lane of the highway while not passing.

The first officer made contact with Thomas Parham, the driver of the Mazda. Parham did not have his driver’s license and had no insurance. Parham told the officer he had rented the car the day before and left his wallet in the Honda. The officer also found a small, clear bag inside the Mazda and when asked Parham said he was going to use the bag in order to collect some “Texas sand” as he had never before been to Texas.

The other officer spoke with Haines, the driver of the Honda. Haines said they had been in Houston “a few days”, visiting his mother, who had recently become a widow.

Parham also claimed he and Haines were cousins and that he had accompanied Haines to Houston, also to visit his widowed aunt. But, when asked the aunt’s maiden name, Parham was unable to do so.

“I am not sure, we are not close family,” Parham was said to have replied.

After receiving consent to search the Honda, the officers discovered a black trash bag containing a large bundle of marijuana.

Two cell phones and a cell phone charger, as well as $18,263 in cash, were also found inside the vehicles, with prosecutors alleging they were all gained during the commission of a felony.

Bell’s attorney had argued the traffic stop was made with a lack of probable cause and that Bell did not waive her rights during questioning.

But 354th District Court Judge Richard A. Beacom denied all of the allegations raised in the motion to suppress submitted by the defense.

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