Two St. George men to be sent to Florida to face drug charges

ST. GEORGE – Two St. George men were arrested last week by the Drug Enforcement Administration on Feb. 28, and now face extradition to Florida.

Chad Sunyich and Jason Vowell, each 37, of St. George, were arrested by DEA agents on warrants issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office out of Tampa, Fla. According to the warrants, the men are charged with “conspiracy to distribute 100 kilos or more of marijuana; aiding and abetting in the possession of marijuana.”

Sunyich and Vowell were booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on a federal hold with no bail. A detention hearing has been arranged for Monday in St. George. Afterward, the two will be sent to Florida to answer charges.

According to court documents, over $166,000 connected to the case was seized from a plane owned by one of the suspects on Feb. 19.

Along with Sunyich and Vowell, a Timothy Oneal Long has been named as a third suspect in the case.

Vowell is also one of the former owners of Executive Auto Group, which was shut down by Utah Tax Commission on Feb. 28 during an investigation into current owner Richard Downward. Sgt. Eric McPherson, of Utah Tax Commission’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division, said there was no connection to the investigation at Executive Auto Group and cases involving the former owners.

Jason Vowell, along with his brother Todd Vowell, are among many whose names have been connected to a federal fraud case surrounding Jeremy Johnson by the Federal Trade Commission.

Ed. Note: Persons arrested are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.

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4 Comments

  • conspiracygirl March 5, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    Republicans understand that banning guns won’t eliminate guns or the use of guns — but they can’t figure out that banning drugs did not eliminate drugs or the use of drugs. Drugs are even available in prisons! Democrats (or some of them anyway) seem to understand that banning drugs did not eliminate drugs or the use of drugs — but they can’t figure out that banning guns won’t eliminate guns or the use of guns. Go figure.

    As for this case: It doesn’t sound to me like there was any violence involved. So why are we wasting taxpayer money on this…? The USA is broke, remember…? Maybe Republicans need to put their money where their mouths are and recognize the power of the market. If people want a product they’ll get it — either in the regular market or the black market. There is much less expense and crime involved when people don’t have to resort to the black market.

  • zoidberg March 5, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    Chad Sunyich is brother and son in the Sunyich family recently named in an FTC action which seized Ideal Financial Solutions. They fraudulently billed $25 million in credit card charges. Chad Sunyich’s LinkedIn page shows him as “EVP at Ideal Financial Solutions”

  • conspiracygirl March 5, 2013 at 8:30 pm

    Ahh, interesting. I’m no longer in the area, so didn’t know the bigger story.

  • Shelley Clark March 11, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    This is really sad..last week the judge totally went in their favor when Chad Sunyich’s lawyer at the time asked for set a bail hearing. The judge wouldn’t have set a bail hearing if he didn’t have any intentions on letting them out on bail. At the actual bail hearing, which was today, a different attorney comes in representing Sunyich and she really didn’t know what she was doing, sad to see how a good/bad lawyer can make/break a case. He should have stuck with the first attorney he had at the hearing.

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