Heroin mailed in sandals brings prison for Mich. dealer

GRAND RAPIDS — A Muskegon man who had a life sentence for drug trafficking forgiven in 2010 is heading back to prison for selling heroin shipped here from Tanzania in the soles of sandals.

Charles Lamonte Hathorn, 44, was sentenced Friday to more than 13 years in federal prison for his role in the heroin conspiracy that operated for several months before postal inspectors intercepted the heroin-packed footwear in December, 2013.

It isn't his first taste of prison. Hathorn has two prior drug convictions, one resulting in a mandatory life sentence under Michigan's former drug law that mandated no parole sentences for trafficking more than 650 grams, or about 23 ounces.

Hathorn's life sentence was commuted, paving the way for his release after 19 years. His arrest in the international heroin conspiracy came eight months after his April, 2014 release.

Federal prosecutors say Hathorn played a key role in an international heroin smuggling and money laundering organization that operated from 2013 through July 30, 2014. Members of the organization had addresses in the United Republic of Tanzania, India, northern Illinois and West Michigan.

The local connection came to light in December, 2013 when federal agents seized two heroin-laden Express Mail parcels destined for Muskegon. About 10 ounces of heroin with an estimated street value of $33,000 was hidden in the soles of sandals.

A co-defendant, Allen Jordan Baisi, was sentenced in June to more than five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office asked that he be afforded consideration for his help in bringing down what investigators say was a major pipeline of heroin into Muskegon County.

The two were indicted in December. Investigators said Hathorn received the heroin and distributed it in and around Muskegon County. It was his job to collect money from customers and mail it to Baisi in the northern Chicago suburb of Mt. Prospect, Ill.

Baisi then wired the money to his heroin suppliers in Dar es Salaam, a Tanzanian city of 4.3 million people. Participants staggered mailings and had money pass through multiple locations to avoid detection, investigators said.

The government has also launched forfeiture proceedings against two houses in Muskegon and one in Muskegon Heights it says were derived from drug trafficking.

Hathorn has been in trouble with police since he was 15 years old. He went to prison in 1992 on a cocaine conviction and had been out only a short time when federal agents identified him as a major West Michigan supplier of crack cocaine arriving here from Detroit. He was wearing an electronic tether from his earlier drug conviction during the June, 1994 arrest.

Then Muskegon County assistant prosecutor Victor Fritz, who handled the 1994 case, said Hathorn supported the drug habits of "literally hundreds, if not thousands of people in this area.''

"He was a major dealer, dealing in kilos of cocaine in the West Michigan area,'' Fritz said during the May 2, 1995 sentencing hearing. "His actions wreaked havoc not only in Muskegon County, but in the state of Michigan as a whole.''

Muskegon County Circuit Court Judge Michael Kobza, acknowledging his hands were tied under Michigan's 1973 "650-lifer'' law, sentenced Hathorn to the mandatory term.

Former Michigan Governor John Engler in July, 1998 signed a reform package that provided a chance of parole for those serving mandatory life terms. Hathorn was one of 220 people imprisoned at the time under the lifer law. State lawmakers in 2010 passed additional sentencing reform bills which paved the way for Hathorn's release.

John Hogan is a reporter for WZZM.