PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- A successful former criminal defense attorney from Saco shed tears when he was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for laundering $177,500 for a marijuana smuggling ring.
Gary Prolman practiced law in the greater Portland area for more than two decades. The bar suspended his law license in June. At the sentencing hearing, he said he is still embarrassed by his actions.
The laundering started when Prolman began a business relationship with David Jones, who was a drug trafficker and launching a music and clothing line. Court records show that Prolman laundered the drug proceeds by taking cash from Jones to purchase an interest in Prolman's sports agency business, illegally structuring cash deposits and cashier's check purchases to avoid federal currency reporting requirements, and using structured cashier's checks to jointly purchase real estate with Jones, but the transaction only showed Prolman's name as the owner.
Court documents showed that the investments Jones made were profits from his drug trafficking business. Jones was arrested in Kansas while driving more than 100 pounds of marijuana from California to Maine. The arrest and follow up investigation revealed Jones and Prolman's relationship.
Prolman waived indictment and signed a plea agreement in April of 2014. On Tuesday, he claimed stupidity on his part of taking Jones' money. However, the judge said before sentencing they he didn't believe Prolman was taking full responsibility and if he was "a dummy" he wouldn't have been such a successful attorney.
Prolman's lawyer agreed with judge regarding the acceptance of responsibility.
