Leading ’86 Indy Rookie Is Arrested

Racecar driver Randy Thomas Lanier, 1986 Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year, and another man were arrested Monday in Puerto Rico on federal narcotics charges pending in Illinois, the FBI announced.

Thomas F. Jones, special agent in charge of FBI operations in central and southern Illinois, said Lanier, 33, formerly of Davie, Fla., and Leroy Charles Wisser, 36, of Hollywood, Fla., were federal fugitives who had been hiding in the Caribbean.

Lanier and Wisser appeared before U.S. Magistrate Jesus Castellanos in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and waived extradition to Illinois, the FBI said.

A federal grand jury in Benton indicted Lanier on July 27, accusing him of distributing more than 300 tons of marijuana over a five-year period. Illinois was a distribution point in the drug operation, the indictment said.

Lanier also is accused of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by not reporting his entire income.

If convicted, Lanier could receive a life sentence and $600,000 in fines, and could be ordered to forfeit assets obtained with revenue earned through illicit drug dealing, Jones said.

Wisser was indicted in September by the same grand jury and charged with related violations, including conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana, Jones said.

Wisser was the skipper of a boat used to unload marijuana and cocaine in the coastal areas of Florida, the grand jury alleged. He was indicted in 1975 for trying to smuggle a boatload of marijuana and became a fugitive when he jumped bond, Jones said.

If Wisser is found guilty in the Illinois case, he could face up to 15 years in prison, Jones said.

Previously arrested on similar charges was Benjamin Barry Kramer, a national and world champion offshore powerboat racer, the FBI said.

Police agencies in the Caribbean islands of Martinique, St. Marteen and Antigua were instrumental in the arrests, the FBI said.