Man’s defense attorney denies drug dealer connection

Friday, July 08, 2011

http://www.gazette.net/article/20110708/NEWS/707089630/1007/potomac-businessman-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering&template=gazette

A Potomac businessman only broke the law when he accepted money from an undercover FBI agent in a drug-related money laundering scheme in 2008, according to the man’s attorney.

Todd D. Lubar, 39, who owns businesses in Maryland and Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Wednesday to accepting $20,000 from an undercover FBI agent with the intent of laundering the money through one of his businesses, according to Lubar’s plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on May 20.

Lubar accepted the money after the agent told him that it was from the undercover agent’s fictional drug dealing efforts. Taking drug money is a crime, but it does not prove Lubar was involved with a drug distribution network, said Mark E. Schamel, Lubar’s defense attorney.

“Todd Lubar committed no crime until the government presented him with the opportunity to accept improper monies,” Schamel said. “Todd Lubar accepted money from an investor that he should not have accepted money from, but he had nothing to do with any illegal drug activity.”

U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein rejected Schamel’s assessment of Lubar’s involvement in the drug ring.

“The government does not initiate sting investigations unless there is prior evidence of illegal activities taking place,” Rosenstein said. “[Lubar] admitted to these facts and he already knew what was going on...he admitted that [his co-defendants] discussed these drug distribution activities in front on him.”

Lubar faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea L. Smith and Stuart A. Berman are seeking a sentence at the low end of the sentencing guidelines between 24 and 30 months, according to Lubar’s plea agreement. Lubar will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams on Oct. 26, said U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Marcia Murphy.

Lubar was introduced to the undercover agent in April 2008 by Silver Spring resident David Anthony Kittrell, one of Lubar’s co-defendants who pleaded guilty to federal drug and stolen firearms charges, according to his May 2010 plea agreement. Kittrell indicated Lubar helped him and two other co-defendants, Philip A. Forde and Jamal A. Daniels, launder money in transactions related to Kittrell’s drug distribution network, according to court documents.

On June 25, 2008, Kittrell and the agent met with Lubar in his office at 51 Monroe St. in Rockville where the agent gave Lubar $20,000 in cash that he presented as drug money he wanted laundered through one of Lubar’s businesses, the documents stated. When the agent told Lubar the money was from buying drugs from Kittrell and the others to resell, Lubar sympathized with the agent.

Lubar was arrested and charged May 24, 2011, after Daniels, Kittrell and Forde were arrested in December 2009, Murphy said.

Daniels pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 500 grams or more of cocaine. He was sentenced to five years in prison last year, Murphy said. Kittrell and Forde pleaded guilty to the same heroin and cocaine charges, as well as a possession of stolen firearms charge in 2010, Murphy said. They have not been sentenced.