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Scheme for drug robbery is a fake, but the charges aren't
By ANGELA MOORE © St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001 TAMPA -- A group of men from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties expected to make thousands of dollars Thursday in an armed invasion of a Colombian drug ring's "stash house." Instead, by 5 p.m. six men were wearing orange jail jumpsuits and shackles on their wrists and ankles, sitting in a federal courtroom and learning just how badly they had been duped. The men were tricked by two undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who met two of them through a confidential informant Jan. 24. Those two suspects later introduced the agents to their "crew": several other men who bragged they were experienced in home invasion robberies and could pose as police officers to get the job done right. Each man now faces two counts of serious federal charges: conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 18 kilograms of cocaine and carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Charged were: Anthony Scott Williams, 33, of Largo; Ronnie Mota, 28, of Tampa; John Thomas Holzer, 19, of Seminole; Joshua Keith Boyer, 24, of Largo; Jerome "Jerry" Harold Lummus, 22, of Gulfport; and Robert Walter "Bruce" Howe, 28, of Davie. Before their arrests, several of the men also bragged to the undercover agents about other crimes they had committed and may be charged for those, too, authorities said. ATF agents said Lummus and Holzer bragged about committing an armed bank robbery in Gainesville in early January, and Holzer and Howe are suspected of another in St. Petersburg in late January. A criminal complaint affidavit detailed the government's case: An informer introduced an undercover ATF agent to Holzer and Lummus. In that meeting, the two bragged about their "crew" and all the armed robberies they committed. They said they pretend they're with the Drug Enforcement Administration or the police and use ski masks, gloves, two-way radios and handcuffs. The ATF agent asked whether they might be interested in doing a robbery for him sometime, and Lummus and Holzer gave him their phone numbers. In the next few days, the agent introduced Holzer, Lummus and Howe to another undercover agent posing as a courier for a Colombian drug ring. That agent told the men that his organization got large deliveries of cocaine and money at a "stash house," the location of which was kept secret until the day before his pick-up. Both agents and Holzer, Lummus, Howe, Boyer and Williams made a plan to rob the imaginary house by posing as police officers. Williams offered that his military experience in the Army's 82nd Airborne unit would help add to their authenticity. Thursday, the day planned for the robbery, Howe brought Mota along, who assured the agents he knew what he was doing. All of the men were arrested. Arresting agents found an AK-47 assault rifle, a Tec-9 pistol, a smaller pistol, flex handcuffs, a police scanner and fake police gear, including badges, on the men. Except for Boyer, all of the suspects have criminal histories, most of which are arrests for minor crimes. However, Howe served at least nine years in state prison for burglary and grand theft. This time, U.S. Magistrate Thomas McCoun III said they can all expect harsher penalties. "Theoretically, you could be facing up to life in prison," McCoun said. During the hearing, Lummus remarked to no one in particular: "Man, this sucks. I guess you can't trust anybody."
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