Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/11/28/blotter/doc4cf1e1b37eced913582929.txt

UTICA — A Staatsburg man was sentenced to four years in prison by a U.S. district court on felony charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit financial structuring.

In addition to the four years in prison, Nardino N. Ritchie, 37, of Staatsburg, also was ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, serve a three-year period of supervised release, forfeit a car and a truck and pay $200 in special assessments.

Ritchie was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd on Nov. 19.

He had already pleaded guilty to the charges, which occurred from early 2005 through April 2007.

Ritchie admitted that he received approximately 700 to 1,000 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute while living at his home at 20 Chaucer Road in Staatsburg.

He also admitted to using the money he made from selling the marijuana to purchase a commerical building at 239 Ulster Ave. in Saugerties, along with buying a 2007 Toyota Camry and 2007 Toyota Tundra in an effort to disguise his distribution business.

Ritchie additionally purchased 27 postal money orders from nine different post offices on a single day in amounts less than $3,000 to avoid transaction reporting requirements to the Internal Revenue Services.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Services Criminal Investigation Division and prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.