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Couple Charged with Shipping Drug Money from Mississippi to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nev. – The grandfather of a six-year-old boy who was kidnaped from his Las Vegas home in October and his female companion have been charged in federal court with shipping drug money from Mississippi to Las Vegas, announced Greg Brower, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer and Terri Leavy, aka Terri Mooney are charged in a Criminal Complaint filed October 31, 2008, with Interstate and Foreign Travel or Transportation in Aid of Racketeering Enterprises. The Complaint alleges that Tinnemeyer and Leavy are believed to be involved with the transportation of narcotics and narcotics proceeds within the United States and between the United States and Mexico. In June 2008, Tinnemeyer and Leavy allegedly sent over $60,000 in drug trafficking proceeds from Waveland, Mississippi, to Las Vegas, Nevada. In October, this money was recovered by law enforcement agents from a Las Vegas credit union safety deposit box in the name of Tinnemeyer's daughter. Since about mid-October, 2008, law enforcement agents investigating this case have recovered over $3.7 million in U.S. currency from safety deposit boxes, bank accounts, vehicles, and storage units, in Mississipi, Nevada, and California, which they believe to be the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.
Tinnemeyer and Leavy made an initial appearance on November 3, 2008, before a United States Magistrate Judge, and were detained pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for November 17, 2008. Tinnemeyer and Leavy have been in custody since October 17, 2008, on Material Witness Warrants concerning the kidnaping investigation.
If convicted, Tinnemeyer and Leavy face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The public is reminded that a Criminal Complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kathleen Bliss and Nicholas D. Dickinson.