John Wayne Airport : Man Arrested After Tip on Cache of Marijuana

About $103,200 in cash and two pounds of marijuana were seized and a Colorado man was arrested on Wednesday, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Friday.

Booked on charges of transportation and possession of marijuana was Timothy Allen Buzzard, 32, a real estate developer from Durango, Colo., who was arrested at John Wayne Airport when he claimed baggage later found to contain about two pounds of marijuana valued at $5,000, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Olson. Bail was set at $10,000.

The investigators had been alerted by Phoenix, Ariz., police that a shipment of marijuana was due to arrive at John Wayne Airport on a commercial airliner at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, Olson said.

The Sheriff’s Department drug-sniffing dog, Winston, led deputies to the baggage as it was removed from the plane, Olson said. Buzzard, who matched a description provided by Phoenix police, was arrested when he picked up the bag.

Buzzard was accompanied by “two friends,” whose identities were not released.

A search of the friends’ auto resulted in the seizure of $99,200 in cash in $100 bills, Olson said. In a subsequent search of a 38-foot sailboat owned by the friends at Newport Harbor, authorities seized another $4,000 in cash and a small amount of marijuana, he said.

Buzzards’ friends were released pending further investigation.