Feds trying to confiscate homes of Bethel and Brookfield alleged drug dealers
Mark Mansa, the alleged leader of a drug ring that is charged with selling steroids and marijuana, was building himself a new home in Bethel that would seem modest by some local standards.
According to land records, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Old Hawleyville Lane was estimated to cost about $150,000 to construct.
The property is one of several federal authorities are attempting to seize now as part of their investigation into an alleged criminal drug ring operating in the area for the past seven years.
Some of Mansa's customers included high school student athletes in the Danbury area, according to federal investigators.
According to the indictment unsealed Tuesday, Mansa, along with three other conspirators, is accused of also selling more than 200 pounds of marijuana during the past four years.
The Bethel house, according to the records, is a raised-ranch style home of about 1,800 square feet that includes a master bedroom with two walk-in closets and a master bathroom.
A partially finished basement includes an expansive family room and an adjoining television room.
Mansa purchased the Old Hawleyville property for $95,000 last September, a month after he was supposed to vacate the home he shared with his wife before the couple divorced last year, according to court documents and local land records.
Mansa received a permit to build the home in October and the majority of the construction was complete before he was picked up by authorities late last month.
He was arrested Feb. 24 during a planned $60,000 marijuana deal, prosecutors said.
On the same day Mansa was arrested, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, assisted by Brookfield and Danbury police, executed a search warrant on a North Lake Shore Drive home in Brookfield owned by Glenn Wagner.
Wagner surrendered himself to federal authorities Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. He faces several charges, including conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
Donald Cretella Jr., an attorney representing Wagner, said his client didn't have anything to do with the distribution of steroids.
Authorities are also attempting to seize two homes that Wagner owns in Brookfield, according to the indictment.
Wagner owns two ranch-style homes on North Lake Shore Drive, according to land records, that have a combined assessed value of about $700,000.
Richard Sciaccetano, of Stuart, Fla., who investigators say has ties to the Bonanno crime family, and Kevin Lubic, 48, of Salem, N.Y., who investigators say is associated with the Hells Angels motorcycle club, were also charged in the indictment with conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
Mansa, Sciaccetano and Lubic are in custody and being held without bond.
Wagner's arraignment, originally planned for Tuesday, was continued to Friday at noon.
The judge placed several conditions on his release, including home confinement and a $250,000 unsecured bond.
http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Feds-trying-to-confiscate-homes-of-Bethel-and-1161091.php
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