Marijuana Trafficker Receives 7 Year Prison Sentence In Michigan After Fleeing To Mexico For 3 Years
MARQUETTE, Mich. - Pedro Andres Kobasic, 45, formerly of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced to 87 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles, Jr. announced today. Kobasic was convicted of conspiracy to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana after fleeing from justice and hiding in Mexico for about three years.
U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell presided over the sentencing. Kobasic’s sentencing marks the end of a joint investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement (UPSET) that began in October 2009. At that time the investigators learned that a package of marijuana was being sent via a parcel delivery service to Jason Scott Schwalbach in Escanaba, Michigan. DEA and UPSET learned that a number of residents of the Escanaba area were receiving marijuana by mail and distributing it in the area. The investigation revealed that Pedro Kobasic was the source of this marijuana.
Defendants who were previously convicted in this case were: Schwalbach, sentenced to 6 months in federal prison on December 14, 2010; Joshua Carl Harrison, sentenced to 30 months in prison on December 14, 2010; Jody Michael Williams, sentenced to 100 months in prison on March 24, 2011; and Nathan Peter Kobasic, sentenced to 78 months in prison on August 18, 2011.
Each of these defendants pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge. Pedro Kobasic was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Marquette on April 20, 2011, to enter his guilty plea. He fled to Mexico instead. He was arrested upon returning to the United States in the summer of 2014, and entered his guilty plea on November 3, 2014.
Prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat.
