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Ex-WCC Man 'Pot' Suspect

Ex-WCC Man 'Pot' Suspect image
Parent Issue
Day
22
Month
February
Year
1972
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Ex-WCC Man 'Pot' Suspect

By William B. Treml
(News Police Reporter)

A man identified by authorities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Samuel T. Harmon Jr. of Ann Arbor, was arrested there last month on a federal charge of bringing more than 600 pounds of marijuana into the island commonwealth of the United States.

San Juan City Police Capt. Phillip Cortez and Assistant U.S. District Attorney Jose Keeler said the man they are holding gives an address of 1617 Cambridge Rd. in Ann Arbor and says he is an electrical engineer. The Samuel T. Harmon Jr. living al that address was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Washtenaw Community College when it was formed in 1965. He headed two Ann Arbor electronic firms and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Mrs. Harmon at the Cambridge Rd. address told The News today that she had heard nothing of her husband being arrested and detained in Puerto Rico. She said she had heard from her husband “indirectly.” She said she has not been in contact with authorities in Puerto Rico.

District Attorney Keeler said Harmon and another man identified as Harmon’s nephew were arrested on Jan. 24 in San Juan shortly after their leased airplane landed. Keeler says a short time before the arrest, the same plane landed at a commercial airport at Dorado, 20 miles from San Juan, and several golf bags were dropped out on the ground.

The plane taxied along the runway, took off and flew to another San Juan area airport, Keeler says. Authorities at Dorado who had been alerted to watch for the plane confiscated the golf bags which they said contained 615 pounds of marijuana.

After his arrest Harmon claimed the leased plane had been stolen from him and contended he was not in the craft when the marijuana-laden golf bags were dropped, Keeler said.

Keeler said the marijuana had been flown to Puerto Rico from Columbia, South America.

He said Harmon was jailed on a $50,000 bond but in a hearing this week before a U.S. magistrate that bond was reduced to $7,000. However, Harmon has been unable to post the bond and is still in jail, Keeler said.

Capt. Cortez says his department is preparing criminal charges under San Juan law against Harmon and his nephew, whose name could not be immediately learned.

U.S. Attorney Keeler says Harmon told authorities he came to Puerto Rico to arrange for rock concerts for young people.

A businessman and electrical engineer, the Ann Arbor Harmon holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Wayne State University and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan.

A former Bendix Aerospace Systems Division engineer, he headed two different companies in Ann Arbor which performed research and development work on electronic signal-processing devices. He had also worked for four years at the U-M Institute of Science and Technology.