Georgian resident, John Thomas Oiler, has been charged for helping ex-Pennsylvania narcotics officer, Timothy Riley, launder more than $800,000 worth of stolen funds from a marijuana drug trafficking ring in 2014. In March 2018, Riley pled guilty to the charges and is currently free on bail while awaiting sentencing.
The charges against Oiler and Riley came to light in 2016 after The Morning Call published details on how state attorney agents from the Mobile Street Crimes Unit seized $1.77 million from a van at a truck stop in Carlisle, Cumberland County, in June 2014. Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s administration secretly kept the confiscated money for 2 years which raised questions regarding the legality of the seizure and whether or not funds had been skimmed. A federal wiretap in 2015 also uncovered complaints from a drug dealer stating that the amount of money seized from the van was more than the amount reported by agents.
After investigations initiated by the IRS, FBI and other federal agencies, it was discovered that the van originally had $2.59 million packed into cardboard boxes. Court records show Oiler rented a storage locker in Baltimore as instructed by a third man, and then skimmed $800,000 from the boxes before hiding it in the storage locker.
In 2015 Kane’s administration stored the money in a vault and reached out to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for an investigation, which resulted in the indictment of Frederick Goldberg, the drug trafficking ringleader, who pled guilty and is currently in prison.
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