'Brilliant piece of police work': Boyd Sheriff's release details in Calif. to Ky. pot-smuggling
Sep. 28—CATLETTSBURG — A convicted sex offender accused of shipping pounds of pot from California to Ashland was extradited last week to face charges.
His father has also been implicated in the ring, according to court records. The total street value is pegged at between $100,000 and $150,000 in value.
Anthony S. Bennallack, 53, of Ashland, is accused of hauling 70 pounds to his Pop's — 73-year-old Alan Bennallack's — house on Gallaher Drive in Ashland.
Interestingly enough, it was right across the street from the house 38-year-old Christopher Childers is accused of torching last week.
According to the Boyd County Sheriff's Office, Bennallack — who has a rap sheet including indecent exposure, sexual contact with a minor and elder abuse — acquired the weed in California and sent it to his father possibly for resale.
A detective with the narcotics unit said the sheriff's office was clued on the smuggling ring and started investigating. After running surveillance and getting a handle on things, the detective said they figured a "knock and talk" was in order.
"Alan was older, he didn't have any type of criminal history and he was set in his schedule," the detective said. "I figured if we went up there and knocked on his door, he would tell us what he had. Or at least, we'd smell the marijuana and get a warrant."
When Mr. Bennallack opened the door, the detective and his partner didn't smell any reefer. But they the elderly man told them to come on in and take this few pounds of pot in the corner of the house, the detective said.
"There was a garage out back and we asked him if there was anything in there," the detective said. "He was a mechanic by trade, or at least he liked to tinker. So we went back there and saw the string for fold-down attic stairs."
The detective said the old man let them up there — and that's where they found several totes filled to the brim with grade-A California bud called Berry White.
About 63 pounds of pot were seized that day — but the detective said the case wasn't over.
Nothing popped up in the news, and the younger Bennallack was watching from afar like a hawk.
"He genuinely didn't know what was going on with the pot," the detective said. "We developed information that he believed his father might have ripped him off."
Despite that, sheriff's detectives were able to work with California authorities to watch Bennallack as he sent over another 6 pounds through the mail to his father's address in Ashland, according to the officer.
The package, with a return address from the younger Bennallack in California, hit positive for drugs upon inspection by a K-9 unit, according to the detective.
Sheriff Bobby Jack Woods called the mailing of the package a "brilliant piece of police work."
As a result, the younger Bennallack was charged with two counts of trafficking in marijuana in excess of 5 pounds. The elder Bennallack is facing a single count of the same.
If convicted, they face five to 10 years in prison on each count.
While weed might not seem like a huge deal, Woods said dealing that amount of the drug could lead to other problems.
"Marijuana is looked at as a drug that might be slightly above or right at the level of alcohol," Woods said. "It's not the marijuana itself that's the problem. It's the criminality that comes with it."
If that 70 pounds worth of weed was converted into cash, Woods said laundering becomes an issue. Another issue is robbery or even murder.
A couple of high profile cases have been traced to weed, according to Woods.
That includes the killing and robbery of an Ashland in 2017 and a shooting in 2019, according to the sheriff's office.
"People will kill over that type of money," Woods said.
The investigator said weed isn't what drug officers are actively searching for on the street.
"Our bread and butter is meth and heroin," he said. "But when there's that amount of pot being moved, we can't ignore it. We have to act and pull the plug on it."
