5 years prison for former St. Charles man in mail-order pot scheme
A former St. Charles man was sentenced to five years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to running a mail-order marijuana operation out of California.
Nicolas Salemi, 24, of San Diego, also must pay $41,500 in fines and fees after pleading guilt to felony
manufacture/delivery of between 500 and 2,000 grams of cannabis, according to Kane County court records.
His girlfriend, Mary Kwiatkowski, 32, of the 4800 block of Brighton Avenue, San Diego, also faces felony drug charges and is due in court Jan. 30.
The couple, along with Salemi's parents, Anthony and Gina Salemi, of the 5N400 block of North Glen Oak Drive, St. Charles, were arrested in June after an investigation by the North Central Narcotics Task Force, a unit of the Illinois State Police.
Nicolas Salemi was accused of mailing multiple pound packages of marijuana to customers in Illinois; authorities charged Salemi's parents with money laundering, accusing them of collecting the money and filtering it back to their son in California to buy more drugs.
Nicolas Salemi's defense attorney, James Casement, said his client was ineligible for probation because he had a previous marijuana arrest in Iowa from a few years ago.
Casement said the younger Salemi was working to open a legal marijuana dispensary in California but "unfortunately, he got involved with trying to do things with people he knew in Illinois" and shipped marijuana here.
"This was the best resolution for Mr. Salemi based on his past history," Casement said. "He does maintain that his parents had nothing to do with this."
Nicolas Salemi could have received anywhere from four to 15 year in prison on the drug charge; Judge John Barsanti accepted the plea in which prosecutors dismissed other, less severe charges.
Both Anthony and Gina Salemi are free on bond and next due in court Dec. 4. If convicted, they face anywhere from probation to five years in prison on the money laundering charges.
Kwiatkowski also is free on bond. She has pleaded not guilty and faces anywhere from probation to seven years in prison, records show.
Nicolas Salemi could be released from prison in about two years.
Under Illinois law, he can have his sentence cut in half for good behavior. He also gets credit for nearly six months served at the Kane County jail, where he was held while the case was pending.