The State - News from May 27, 1988

The investigation of a 50-ton hashish and marijuana seizure widened to include a Napa couple--relatives of six accused drug smugglers. Norma Sue Lemmons, 42, and Donald R. Lemmons, 44, were charged with money laundering. Donald R. Lemmons was also charged with aiding in a conspiracy to smuggle hashish and marijuana into the country aboard a barge pulled by a tugboat. A U.S. magistrate ordered the couple held without bail pending a hearing next Wednesday on the government’s request that no bail be granted. Internal Revenue Service agents tracking the trail of drug-tainted money through banks in Napa and other parts of California, as well as New York City, arrested the Lemmons in their Napa home. Steven Giorgi, IRS chief of criminal investigations in Sacramento, said he expects more arrests. So far eight members of the same family have been charged with crimes linked to the largest single haul of hashish and marijuana in U.S. history--more than $160 million worth.