South Florida drug smuggler has long history of getting caught
With a South Florida drug smuggling career that spans 31 years, Mark Marchand pleaded guilty Friday to importing at least $1.7 million worth of cocaine in August – a crime that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Marchand, 57, first made headlines in 1982 when he was found floating on a life raft about 30 miles east of Port Everglades with 600 pounds of marijuana he had tried to fly in from Jamaica.
The airplane ran out of gas and crashed into the ocean where Marchand and his co-defendant Garth Henriques – the father of reggae star Sean Paul – were soon picked up by authorities.
Marchand served a little over a year in federal prison and got into some relatively minor legal scrapes over the years, records show.
The Hollywood man’s luck at avoiding federal drug investigators ran out again on Aug. 6 when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft spotted his sailboat – this time 30 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet. When agents stopped him and searched the boat, they found about 190 pounds of cocaine and a small amount of heroin hidden in secret compartments on the vessel.
Marchand admitted he had sailed from Broward County to Freeport in the Bahamas, where he and three local men loaded on to the boat cocaine bricks that he was to smuggle back to South Florida.
“Marchand intended to sail to a dock located behind a residence in Fort Lauderdale and the following morning he would call a man on his cell phone who would come to the residence and unload the cocaine with Marchand,” agents wrote in court records.
Marchand expected to be paid $172,000 for bringing in the haul, he told agents, adding that he had done similar runs several times in the past 10 years.
Marchand, who will remain locked up, pleaded guilty to two charges of importing cocaine and heroin with intent to distribute the drugs. He faces 10 years to life in prison and fines of up to $10 million per charge when he is sentenced in January. Marchand agreed to the forfeiture of his 1976 white Hunter sailboat during the hearing Friday in federal court in West Palm Beach.
Born in Queens, N.Y., Marchand went to high school in Jamaica and then served in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft electrician before moving to South Florida in 1977. He worked as an electronics technician for years but was out of work and receiving Social Security disability income for bipolar disorder since 2002.
He told authorities he was not taking his prescription medicine before his arrest, but had used cocaine since the 1980s and was hospitalized after a cocaine overdose earlier this year.
[email protected], 954-356-4533 or Twitter @SentinelPaula
2013 is one unlucky year it look like oo
met why the post said sean paul father and him boss when this man’s father case was from the 1982 stop the bad press!!!!!
Chat u chat to much or wha? http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-10-18/news/fl-smuggler-plea-drugs-20131018_1_cocaine-overdose-cocaine-and-heroin-sailboat
check di date
oh mi dus see whey u a se..mek a change di title..sean paul father boss get ketch agen? :kiss hush hold
Met this is correct….the incident is not recent. The boat incident is.
:maho mi cyah badda wid ace eno
This has nothing to do with Sean Paul’s father. Just that the man was caught with him years ago.
Met, Sean Paul’s father is Mr. Henriques. He is not the subject here.
That I know
A lot of people are under the impression that only black Jamaicans from poor backgrounds are involved in the drug trade, when a number of high profile uptown white business people are involved either directly or indirectly, as “passive investors”. Passive in the sense that they pool their funds to move large quantities of hard drugs into the US, without touching the stuff directly or being able to tie them to these shipments. These investments have better returns (high risk) than their legitimate businesses.
Personally, I did not know that Sean Paul father was once involved in smuggling in the past. He now claims he is involved in the water bottling business.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-08-12/news/fl-coke-weed-smuggler-20130808_1_cocaine-smuggler-bales-life-raft
Did anyone read the article in Anonymous’s link? Sean Paul’s father spent six years in a Jamaican prison for charges related to a homicide? Plus, he smuggled drugs on several occasions prior to being busted with Marchand? Wow. All I ever read about was Sean Paul’s “artist” mother. Now I can see where that critic was coming from when he claimed that Jamaica’s new anti-gang laws could possibly be racist. If the law does not address all who are caught up in this drug thing, then it certainly is.
Met ur post a straight facts , it stink a amongst the high profile in Miami !
how yuh mean loud up dem yes….a bet if a did flippa mafia from di ghetto yuh hear how much ppl start condemn him…look how much dem ketch dis yah many yah wid. dem uptown bwoy deh a do dem ting to. dem might nah dash champaigne inna dance but dem a get medal of honour inna jamaica fi outstanding service. which is worst. ghetto ppl and poor ppl fool. condemn dem own when uptown a do the same ting on a bigger level and a mek more money.
Judas……if Marsha and Flippa had taken the time to learn how to lay waaaaaay back and exercise some humility, maybe, just maybe, they would have been able to enjoy the drugs money. BIG people inna di juggling don’t need video light and social media.
@judas agree with u 100% f**k Sean Paul him care about the people them a ja, a lot a the drugs money spend on Sean Paul and him career.
Met a weh u do delete me comment? Me did ask u say fi u hear say them lock up dozer (rebel T sound owner) me waan know if a real ting, even thou them say it was on the news…confirm it fi me deh…Me naah lie me prefer tek news from u cause u report facts.
yes I put it up but tomorrow i will include the details
oh ok.
the uptown make them money from the 1970s 80s. them have the look so them coulda fly een wid dem suitcase pack back in the day. or ship out dem thing from ochi mobay and dem place deh. many a the name brand hotel supermarket car-dealer and all some a them likkle bank deh back inna the day get them “investment capital” from outta the works.
think henriques thing was common assault to everybody
Fake Name….yu have di ting lock…lol.
cool nuh william.
nuff ghetto yute get them buss or did juss a try do it big like the uptown man dem who dem use to hustle for. but some a the ghetto yute dem like handicap flippa nuh get pass the making the money stage . as quick as them get it dem blow it.
I see that RJR News pick up the story, but being biased and protective of certain class of people in Jamaica, they conveniently omitted that Garth Henriques – the father of reggae star Sean Paul, was caught in the 1982 incident.
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A South Florida drug smuggler who was arrested 30 years ago for attempting to transport marijuana from Jamaica to the US is now facing life in prison in connection with another narcotics case. Mark Marchand, 57, pleaded guilty last Friday to importing US$1.7 million worth of cocaine in August – a crime that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Marchand first made headlines in 1982 when he was found floating on a life raft about 30 miles east of Port Everglades with 600 pounds of marijuana he had tried to smuggle from Jamaica. Records show he served a little over a year in federal prison and got into some relatively minor legal scrapes over the years. On August 6, a US Customs and Border Protection aircraft spotted his sailboat near Pompano Beach, Florida. When agents searched the boat, they reportedly found about 190 pounds of cocaine and a small amount of heroin hidden in secret compartments on the vessel.
Marchand faces 10 years to life in prison and fines of up to US$10 million per charge when he is sentenced in January.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/south-florida-drug-smuggler-pleads-guilty-to-importing-cocaine