JZD codefendant to be pardoned?

[AugustneverEnds]

Stephen Arrington, supposed "gofer" to one William Morgan Hetrick, is the forgotten man in the story of JZD's cocaine trial. A bit of light is shed on what he has been doing since: http://drugsbite.com/convict-to-crusader/

[Dangermouse]

Interesting story. Thanks for posting

[louielouie2000]

Has anybody purchased his book, yet?

http://www.amazon.com/DeLoreans-Shadow-Century-Surviving-Defendant-ebook/dp/B019HVO7PQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452273011&sr=8-1&keywords=delorean+trial+book

I've read the first several chapters on the Amazon preview, and it's very interesting so far.

[DMCVegas]

"In 1982 Steve Arrington took the fall for John DeLorean in a failed $24 million cocaine smuggling deal."

Oh, just knock it off. Nobody "took the fall" for anyone with that DEA sting. It was two separate operations and two separate charges: The first for the importation of narcotics, and the second was for the distribution. Aside from perhaps some agents involved, the only thing linking the two was the shared evidence of the cocaine. Further proved by this snippets here:

"Arrington pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison (later reduced to three) and served 31 months."
"...he was unaware that the $24 million worth of cocaine he had been smuggling was intended for DeLorean..."

What?!? How in the hell is that taking the fall? You pled out. You didn't even know JZD as you clearly stated, so why in the world would you have taken the fall for him? And how exactly would you take the fall for his charges when your's were different?


"From the passenger side, another man jammed the barrel of a pump-action shotgun into Arrington’s ribcage. He heard the click-clack of a shell being chambered."

Oh really? I'm supposed to believe that a Federal Agent, who going into a potentially life-threatening situation where firearms were clearly needed to defend their own life, and the lives of others around them given the nature of the types of criminals involved with this type of an operation, did so without ever chambering a round into their weapon?

This sounds more like a case of a guy who wants to make money off of other people's names, and waited until they were all dead so that no one could challenge him.

[DMCVegas]

Has anybody purchased his book, yet?

http://www.amazon.com/DeLoreans-Shadow-Century-Surviving-Defendant-ebook/dp/B019HVO7PQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452273011&sr=8-1&keywords=delorean+trial+book

I've read the first several chapters on the Amazon preview, and it's very interesting so far.

After reading his quotes about how a "marijuana addiction" led to him flushing his entire life down the toilet, that killed a lot of interest in it for me. I mean, that's not even taking responsibility. If the guy had come right out and said, "Hey, I made some bad choices in life that led to this." I would greatly respect this guy. That isn't something that allot of people can do, much like him. But this whole, "Ahhh! The Devil's lettuce made me do it! None of this was my fault! Don't blame me!" shtick gets real tiresome. It's like how every time a celebrity screws up, they never take responsibility, and just check into "rehab" for whatever it was that hurt their image.

[Tamir A.]

Does anyone know if James Hoffman is around still? He was the real instigator behind the whole drug deal.

[DMCVegas]

Does anyone know if James Hoffman is around still? He was the real instigator behind the whole drug deal.

Searched for him in the past, and I've not turned up much. But then again, I haven't searched that hard.

Federal Bureau of Prisons indicates that prisoner 50519-098 was released 9-25-81, and hasn't been back since. Current age is (would have been?) 75.

Next step would be to check the Social Security Death Index, but I don't have an active Ancestry.com account right now. That's how I was able to track down Roy Nesseth and his daughter (who last I knew is still alive).

Ironically enough, Benedict Tisa now makes his living not only as a consultant for law enforcement, but as a professional witness. I'm sure that if any young lawyers actually knew his past history they could probably shred him on the witness stand.

Haven't looked up Valestra though...

Update:
I have 3 confirmed deceased matches:

April 15, 1939 - September 21, 1987 Cook, Il

March 23, 1941 - November 17, 1997 Lawrence, In

September 27, 1939 - July 30, 2010 Clay, Mo


Do we have a birthdate on this guy to confirm?

[AugustneverEnds]

Does anyone know if James Hoffman is around still? He was the real instigator behind the whole drug deal.

IIRC in JZD's book he stated Hoffman was born Timothy DeJong and after JZD's acquittal he was working under the name Tim Hughes. Of course that might be inaccurate. While we are talking about the characters in the trial, I learned William Morgan Hetrick passed away on July 14th 2004. Here's a colorful account of Mr. Hetrick (I can't vouch if any of its true or not) : http://www.arthurjonesexercise.com/GodLaughs/39.PDF

Presiding Judge Robert Takasugi also has passed on.

[DMCVegas]

IIRC in JZD's book he stated Hoffman was born Timothy DeJong and after JZD's acquittal he was working under the name Tim Hughes. Of course that might be inaccurate.

Good call.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19830503&id=Boc1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=PqUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6202,498795&hl=en

As shady of a guy that he is, I figured that he'd have changed names already, assuming that he's even alive. Very interesting that even back then searching for him was a reg flag. I'm sure that if he's still alive, he's hiding under another alias. The guy angered so many people, it wouldn't surprise me at all that he's wanted and hated by so many.

Makes me think of a strange story. Years ago, maybe in 1998 or so, I remember half-watching the afternoon news in Vegas, and there was a story about a dispute between a couple of neighbors living in those slum apartments behind Palace Station. I can't even remember what it was about. Pets, or parking maybe? Who knows now. But it was one of those "neighbors from hell" pieces. Anyhow, this one angry guy their interviewing on TV complains about his neighbor that was named Tim Hughes or something like that was afraid to come out on camera when they knocked on his door, because he was a former FBI informant that was scared to show his face on TV. That was one of the weirdest things someone would say... I briefly wondered if it might have been Hoffman, but the name wasn't right, and that just seemed too crazy. But now I wonder...

I bet that if we wanted to track him down, we'd best start in Grand Rapids, MI and find his siblings and go from there...