Convicted Fireworks Dealer Faces New Charge

[displayfireworks1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bOc8bVfbFk
http://www.mapsofworld.com/location-maps/newimages/usa-covington-ky.jpg
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Published on Dec 4, 2013


COVINGTON, Ky. (WKRC) -- A local business man faces up to ten years in federal prison for selling fireworks after a previous run-in with the law. Sam Droganes of Fort Mitchell pleaded guilty to selling fireworks to a confidential informant from a store in Covington. Droganes is prohibited from possessing explosives because of a previous conviction. He was arrested after a raid at his Convington and Taylor Mill Premium Fireworks stores in 2007. Agents seized one million dollars worth of fireworks they say were stored without permits. Droganes will be sentenced on the new charge next spring.
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One day we may discuss this case. I believe the chief issue here was he was selling 1.3 fireworks to unlicensed people.

[displayfireworks1]

Here is a video from around 4 to 5 years ago. At the 1:57 mark you will see and hear some fireworks from Sam. They are dam good sounding fireworks. What is strange is in the UK, I would speculate that Epic Fireworks legally sells these to consumers, Tannerite legally sells these as Articles of pyrotechnics. They are not bad fireworks, in fact they are very desirable fireworks. He just did not go about it the correct way. It is unfortunate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2KMZgTVpRU
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http://cmsimg.nky.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=AB&Date=20131204&Category=NEWS0103&ArtNo=312040051&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Fireworks-sales-again-blow-up-seller-s-face
COVINGTON — A Northern Kentucky fireworks dealer who was sent to prison three years ago for selling restricted exhibitor fireworks to the public has admitted to breaking the same law after he was released from prison.

Sam Droganes, 48, of Fort Mitchell pleaded guilty Nov. 27 in federal court to being a felon in possession of explosives. Droganes faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar on March 20.

Droganes admitted to selling the exhibitor fireworks to a confidential informant on May 28 at his retail store in Covington, according to federal prosecutors.

The plea avoided a trial set to begin Dec. 10.

Droganes attorney, Steven D. Jaeger, had argued that his client should not have been prosecuted a second time. Jaeger wrote in court filings that the fireworks Droganes was arrested for selling in May had been deemed legal for him to sell during the first investigation in 2010.

Another federal judge, David Bunning, found that 40 percent of the fireworks seized during the first investigation were legal for Droganes to sell and accused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of engaging in “bad-faith conduct.”

That 40 percent, or 22 tractor-trailer loads of fireworks, was returned to Droganes’ warehouse in Taylor Mill in September 2012. The 800,000 pounds of pyrotechnics were shipped 800 miles from underground bunkers at the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant in Nebraska where they had been stored for years.

Bunning criticized ATF for spending $8.4 million storing fireworks worth about $1 million. Droganes is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to sanction the ATF for, among other things, the original seizure and the delay in returning fireworks he could legally sell.

Droganes, who was once recognized by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce as one of the area’s most successful entrepreneurs, said at the time that the whole ordeal nearly broke him financially and emotionally. ⬛
http://cmsimg.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=AB&Date=20131118&Category=NEWS0103&ArtNo=311180020&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Ft-Mitchell-fireworks-dealer-back-legal-hot-seat

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Not surprisingly the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is guilty of not handling the case properly. Here is a news report from 2012.
They may have been gunning for Sam.
http://images.ibsys.com/2007/0702/13609530.jpg
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COVINGTON, Ky. —Federal officials have spent more than $8 million storing about $1 million worth of fireworks seized from a northern Kentucky dealer.

The storage costs continue to rise more than three years after a federal judge ordered the return of nearly half the fireworks.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is paying nearly $102,000 monthly to store 44 tractor loads of fireworks at the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant in Nebraska. Some of the fireworks may now be dangerously unstable because they have not been stored properly for five years, the newspaper reports.

Fallout from the investigation forced the ATF to re-evaluate its practices and led a U.S. magistrate judge to recommend sanctions against the federal government.

The top ATF official for Ohio and Indiana, whose office oversaw the northern Kentucky investigation, said he knows the storage costs will raise questions.

"As a taxpayer myself, I understand the concern, and it is a legitimate question," said Robert Browning, special agent in charge of the ATF Columbus Field Division. "Certainly, we don't like the fact that we have had to pay this much in storage cost, either."

Browning said the investigation's goal was public safety.

The fireworks dealer, 47-year-old Sam Droganes, was released from prison in November 2010 after pleading guilty to not having a proper federal permit for his business.

The fireworks were moved 800 miles away to the Nebraska facility because it was unsafe to store them in Droganes' Taylor Mill warehouse, Browning said. The Nebraska facility, ATF's approved vendor to store explosives, is operated by Heritage Disposal & Storage.

The ATF is looking to see if there are cheaper options than Heritage.

Meanwhile, U.S. Magistrate Judge Candace Smith in May recommended sanctions against the federal government because she said the ATF should have returned 8,648 boxes of the fireworks, representing 42.6 percent of the seized property, after federal prosecutors admitted those fireworks were likely legal for Droganes to sell. Droganes contends most of the seized fireworks were legal.

Smith was unconvinced by the ATF's claims that they did not return the legal fireworks to Droganes because adverse weather conditions made the fireworks dangerous.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky has filed written objections to the recommendation.

"The decision not to return the fireworks reflected a genuine concern about possible malfunctions from having been stored in Nebraska during the bitterly cold winter and hot summer," Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Kinnicutt wrote.

The ATF filed affidavits that the fireworks froze together one winter. Other sworn statements stated that mice had eaten some fireworks.

Smith concluded that the weather damage was limited to the illegal, commercial-grade fireworks stored in 17 bunkers at the old army ammunition plant. Twelve other bunkers contain fireworks she is recommending be returned.

Smith also found that the rodent damage was limited to the packaging of 76 of 18,783 boxes of fireworks.

"The court will stop short of finding ATF committed a fraud upon the court in filing these affidavits knowing the statements made therein to be false, but does find such assertions were made in bad faith," Smith wrote.

In addition to returning the legal fireworks, Smith recommended the government reimburse Droganes the legal fees he incurred in seeking the return of the fireworks. Droganes said he had spent $500,000.

Smith also wants the government to reimburse the $320,000 in rental fees Droganes incurred when federal agents held several overseas shipping containers filled with fireworks for 18 months.

Kinnicutt has argued that the federal government has limited sovereign immunity and doesn't have to reimburse Droganes. Smith is recommending that U.S. District Judge David Bunning use his contempt authority to provide relief for Droganes.

A hearing before Bunning is set for Aug. 3 in Covington.

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From a local News paper. Letter to the editor
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In response to “Fireworks dealer back in legal hot seat” (Nov. 18): It is shocking to read that the federal government paid over $8 million to some cornhusker army plant to house fireworks for six years. It is inconceivable to me that the government has this much time, money and energy to waste on such a frivolous case.

Where are the government’s priorities? How many serious “real” crimes could benefit from such time, money and energy? Why do they continue to bombard fireworks dealer Sam Droganes with such displaced priority and prosecution?

I know Mr. Droganes. He is a good Christian, college-educated, hard-working, award-winning businessman who was once a pillar of the community. He is not a criminal.

Where is the logic, common sense, and dare I say ethics of our government? Haven’t they already wasted over six years of effort and over $8 million in taxpayer money?

Do we really need to yet again prosecute a man and attempt to put him in prison, when his very life and livelihood have already been ruined?

Fred Grout, Covington

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COVINGTON, KENTUCKY (FOX19) -
A northern Kentucky businessman awaits sentencing for being a felon in possession of explosives, a violation of federal law.

Sam Droganes, 48, pleaded guilty on November 27 and admitted to selling 1.3G fireworks (large professional fireworks used in public displays) to a confidential conformant with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The sale occurred on May 28 at Droganes's store in Covington, Ky.

Droganes is a convicted felon, having previously been convicted in federal court in 2010 of an offense involving the same type of explosives. Under federal law, convicted felons are prohibited from possessing firearms and explosives.

Forty-four tractor-trailer loads of fireworks and pyrotechnics were removed from his business, Premium Fireworks, in July 2007.

Droganes is currently scheduled to appear for sentencing, before U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar, in Covington, on March 20, 2014.

He faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. However, any sentence will be imposed by theCourt after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes governing the imposition of sentences.
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Here is the judge on the sentencing hearing. I hope he likes fireworks.

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http://www.bck.or.kr/data/file/photo03/1981881884_oQkVmUW5_thaparop2.jpg

Amul Roger Thapar (born April 29, 1969) is a United States federal judge.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Thapar received a B.S. from Boston College in 1991 and a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley in 1994. He was a law clerk to S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio from 1994 to 1996, and for Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1996 to 1997. He was an adjunct professor in the University of Cincinnati College of Law from 1995 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2006. He was in private practice in Washington, D.C., from 1997 to 1999. He was a trial advocacy instructor in the Georgetown University Law Center from 1999 to 2000. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC from 1999 to 2000. He was a General counsel, Equalfooting.com from 2000 to 2001. He was in private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio from 2001 to 2002. He returned to the U.S. Attorney's Office as an assistant in the Southern District of Ohio from 2002 to 2006, and was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2006 to 2007.

On May 24, 2007, Thapar was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky vacated by Joseph M. Hood. Thapar was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 13, 2007, and received his commission on January 4, 2008.

[displayfireworks1]

I heard rumor this case against Sam may be over. I am trying to find a news report on it. One of the things I heard is the government has no where to light off fireworks, so if a box of fireworks says 1.4 they have no where to fire it off to prove otherwise. I also heard the case against him may be dropped.
If someone has an update on this please post it.

[PyroManiacs]

Very interesting!

[pyromaniac]

What I love is how the media jumps all over the story, but when he beats the case you won't hear shit about it. Kind of like John Delorean. You ask anyone and they will say "ohh that car guy who got busted selling coke". No one remembers that he got exonerated from all charges.

[N3OQO]

The media distorts everything. I have a relative that is an editor at a newspaper and I asked her about the distortions in her paper. Her reply? "The truth doesn't sell papers."