A Placerville airplane dealer was ordered today to forfeit illegal profits and to pay a fine for accepting apparent drug proceeds.
On Feb. 16, Stancil Enterprises Inc. pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento to charges against the firm, its owner and president, Joseph Stancil, and a salesman at the company, Daniel Mathis. Joesph Stancil spoke on behalf of Stancil Enterprises at the sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.ordered to the corporation to forfeit approximately $428,000 and to pay $500,000 in criminal fines for conspiring to aid and abet the structuring of financial transactions, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.
According to the plea agreement, in 2008 and 2009, Stancil Enterprises sold multiple planes in exchange for cash structured into Stancil Enterprises bank accounts. The firm and its agents believed the purchasers to be Mexican and the deposited cash to be from illegal narcotics trafficking. The company and its agents knew that the buyers were placing cash in its accounts in increments of less than $10,000 to avoid reporting requirements, officials said.
In November 2009, an undercover agent with the Internal Revenue Service contacted Joseph Stancil, telling Stancil that he wished to purchase a plane for his son with cash, and asked for advice on how to accomplish that without having any reports filed on the transactions. Stancil's response indicated that he understood that the fictional son was engaged in drug trafficking activity in Mexico, officials said.
Stancil proceeded to advise the agent how "the Mexicans" did it , depositing cash increments into Stancil Enterprises accounts. Stancil and the undercover agent then met with Mathis, who advised the agent about Stancil Enterprises Form 8300 reporting requirements for such cash transactions. When Stancil asked about how they got away with not reporting "the Mexicans," Mathis responded that no one had ever "hassled" Stancil Enterprises about the issue, according to the news release.
From September 2009 through August 2009, Stancil Enterprises received $428,589 in structured funds in relation to six plane sales, each with a separate buyer. The court ordered the company to forfeit those funds as part of the sentence.
The case resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and a Financial Crimes Task Force including the Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean M. Hobler prosecuted the case.
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