New York man, Yippie veteran, not charged with money laundering
CHARLESTON — No money laundering charges were filed during a court hearing Thursday for a New York man accused of trying to hide a bag with a large amount of money from Mattoon [Illinois] police earlier this month.

Irvin Dale Beal, 61, was charged only with obstructing justice Thursday, though his case’s prosecutor said other charges could be filed later. The attorneys in the Beal’s case also agreed that his bond will be reduced.

Beal and another man, Jesse Balcom, 30, of Silver Springs, Md., were arrested at the Steak N’ Shake restaurant in Mattoon on the morning of June 3 after police initially went there on a report of two women having an argument. According to Mattoon police, bystanders asked officers to question Beal because they said they saw him retrieve a bag from his van and hide it under a car.

Officers found the bags contained about $150,000 and then had a police dog investigate the bags, and the dog reacted as if drugs were present, though no drugs were found, according to police documents in the case. Beal denied any knowledge of the bags, and he was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and obstructing justice.

The Associated Press reported that Beal is also a veteran of the Youth International Party, whose members are commonly known as Yippies, a 1960s-era hippie political movement. The news service also reported that he’s also been a longtime advocate in New York City for the legalization of marijuana.

In court Thursday, Assistant State’s Attorney Mick McAvoy wouldn’t say why he didn’t file money laundering charges. McAvoy would only say that the case is still being investigated.

Illinois law defines money laundering as someone moving money from one location to another with the proceeds coming from drug sales, and it can result in a prison sentence of four to 15 years upon conviction.

The charges McAvoy filed against Beal Thursday were two counts of obstructing justice that accuse him of hiding the bags of money and then telling police he didn’t do it, both to avoid arrest. The charges can result in a prison sentence of one to six years, with the maximum sentence twice what’s usual for the offense because Beal has a prior marijuana possession conviction, according to McAvoy.

The two women involved in the argument police investigated at Steak N’ Shake, Charlotta D. Lutsche, 52, of New York City, and her mother, Kathradina Lutsche, 85, also of New York, were traveling with Beal and Balcom.

Let me get this straight: they aren’t going to file money laundering charges.  So the bag of cash he had is legal, right?  Now he’s going to be charged with lying about hiding something that isn’t a crime?

I’ve just got to wonder what kind of argument the 52-year-old woman and her elderly mother must have had that it required the police to be called in.  And why would Beal leave the restaurant and go to the van to get the bag of money and hide it?  I don’t see how an argument inside a restaurant would give police probable cause to search his van.

Sounds like a weird case to me, and I just hope that Dana Beal escapes from these charges without any jail time.Da

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under 4:20 NewsHour, Community, Police. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.