Encinitas
Jeffrey M. Hagen, 38, of Encinitas, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of income tax evasion and drug-smuggling arising out of the federal probe of the Coronado Company.
U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez said Tuesday that Hagen pleaded guilty to evading taxes on income from narcotics distribution and to conspiracy to import hashish from Afghanistan and Pakistan in 1978.
The Coronado Company was a drug-smuggling operation founded in the early 1970s by a group of high school buddies who initially used surfboards to smuggle marijuana into the United states from Mexico. The group later expanded the operation to include the smuggling of marijuana and hashish from Pakistan, Morocco and Thailand.
IRS agents said Hagen had income exceeding $100,000 for the 1979 tax year. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Hagen concealed the income by using offshore trusts in Bermuda and sham corporations in Panama and Liberia. He was arrested in December, 1983, after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Maine. Sentencing is scheduled for June 10.
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