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Golf company ex-CEO, wife accused of laundering drug money
By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer
Feds say drug trafficker used cleaned-up cash to further pot operations | ∞
Federal prosecutors have charged a Fallbrook man who owned a Vista golf company with laundering $500,000 in proceeds from a Valley Center marijuana-growing operation.
In a statement late Friday, the U.S. Attorney's office in San Diego said Peter Carlo Mertens, 50, the chief operating officer of now-defunct Diamond Golf, and his 36-year-old wife, Bettina Thakore, face conspiracy, money laundering and a host of other charges listed in a 40-count indictment.
Also charged are Diamond Golf accountants Wayne Joseph Fernandes, 53, of San Marcos, and William Hamman, 70, of Murrieta.
No attorneys representing the accused were listed in court records available Friday evening.
Federal prosecutors say Ian Mahon of Carlsbad had a courier bring cash ---- proceeds from drug operations ---- to Diamond Golf offices in Vista, generally monthly between February 2003 and July 2005.
Diamond Golf took the cash and spread it through a number of bank accounts, according to prosecutors, so company officials wouldn't have to explain the deposits of large amounts of money to the Internal Revenue Service.
The company then wrote checks for the amount of the cash ---- minus a 7 percent fee ---- and sent the checks to Mahon, a prosecutor said late Friday.
Diamond Golf also provided Mahon with tax forms that made him appear to be a contractor for the company ---- which made the checks look like legitimate proceeds, prosecutors allege.
Mahon used the laundered cash to further his drug operation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Walker Hobson said Friday evening.
Because his income appeared legitimate, Mahon was able to buy two Valley Center homes, where he grew marijuana, Hobson said.
"By the company participating in this, they allowed the drug trafficker to buy the homes to grow marijuana," Hobson said.
Federal agents raided Mahon's Valley Center homes in 2005 and discovered hundreds of marijuana plants, Hobson said.
Those raids uncovered checks and tax forms allegedly provided by Diamond Golf, she said.
Mahon, whose primary residence was in Carlsbad at the time, pleaded guilty to conspiracy drug and money laundering charges in 2005, according to court documents.
Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.
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