A press release issued on Friday, February 5, by the US Attorney for the District of Idaho announced the federal indictment of eight individuals and the arrest of seven of them for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
Among those arrested was Coeur d’Alene resident Dr. Stanley Toelle, a gastroenterologist. He was arrested in Coeur d’Alene.
The criminal enterprise was allegedly headed by Dr. Toelle’s wife, Loren ‘Mama’ Toelle (Hill). She was arrested in Las Vegas. The enterprise operated in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota including the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
Dr. Stanley Toelle was indicted for money laundering. In very simple terms, money laundering is the practice of changing the cash directly associated with and traceable to illegal transactions into some negotiable instrument or something else of value that cannot be connected back to the original crimes.
Cash transactions, particularly if unusually large or numerous, can attract unwanted attention from law enforcement. Money laundering charges frequently accompany charges of drug trafficking and public official corruption. And as HSBC learned, involvement in the money laundering process can be very expensive.
To those in Kootenai County who say it couldn’t happen here … Welcome to the real world. It’s been happening here for years.
OpenCdA will continue to follow this case through the federal court system.
Doctor Toelle was my neighbor when I moved into my home in the Fort Grounds. He and his then-wife divorced shortly after and they both moved away. The rumor was that Loren was his nurse or office manager or something. I didn’t pay it any mind until about ten years later.
My son Jonah came home one night after work, upset because of a car collision. He was pulling out of the parking lot near Kinkos and said that another car deliberately hit him. His car impacted the other car in the rear passenger side, which sure sounded like his fault, but he was still upset. He explained how the other car had slowed and signaled to turn into the lot, but at the last minute, as Jonah pulled out, the car accelerated and he hit it. The operator of the other car was Loren Toelle.
Jonah did the right thing and gave her his insurance information, but he said that Loren just wanted to settle and not go through the insurance. At some point afterwards, both Toelles showed up on my front porch. They wanted money for the accident. She was very insistent. I flat-out refused and sent them on their way.
Something struck me as odd about that encounter. I phoned my insurance man and they never filed a claim. He said it’s probably because of some other issue, but we did the right thing by refusing to deal with them for cash. The entire experience was really odd.
Comment by Dan Gookin — February 7, 2016 @ 9:04 am
Dan,
So far the news accounts and the court filings haven’t revealed a great deal of information about Dr. Toelle’s involvement. He has engaged a Spokane criminal defense attorney, David Partovi, to represent him. The indictment contains far less information than an affidavit for a complaint would. We’ll just have to wait and see as the details come out.
I’m especially interested in the money-laundering charges. Typically, dirty money is placed by its holder into financial institutions, casinos, shops, currency exchanges and other businesses. That begins its integration into the financial system, mixes it with clean (or at least cleaner) money. Then the initially mixed cash is layered, handled by various entities and institutions to reduce its traceability. Finally the cleaner assets are integrated into the supposedly clean financial system and used for investment or to purchase assets of value. Of course, there is a cost to the initial holder of the dirty money to have it laundered through the process.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It would not be at all surprising to see additional charges (e.g., wire fraud) filed against some of the eight named in the indictment to induce them to cooperate.
Comment by Bill — February 7, 2016 @ 10:44 am
Dr. Toelles involvement may not be directly be involved in the trafficing of all those drugs, but you know he knew all about it. Shame that a man who has the job to heal and help would do anything to destroy the lives of the very people he has worked on to heal. I am sure that he earns lots of money – not enough?
Comment by Sharon Culbreth — February 7, 2016 @ 11:31 am
Bill, although the case as a whole will be interesting if for no other reason then to point out it is not just the homeless and jobless involved in crime, you had a sentence that is most scary,
“To those in Kootenai County who say it couldn’t happen here … Welcome to the real world. It’s been happening here for years.”.
How do you educate people whose only response is denial. In today’s Press is a sad article about a by all accounts bright young lady dying of an OD. Now if you look at the online responses you have everything from its Obama’s fault to she knew what she was doing and chose this so it’s no one here fault. This isn’t something that is just in our own back yards it is in the front yards if people would just look.
As far as the Doctor, he is innocent until the final hammer of a judge, then hang him and his wife.
Comment by Mike Teague — February 7, 2016 @ 11:50 am
Sharon,
Presumably there was insufficient admissible evidence to charge Stanley Toelle in the alleged drug trafficking. His attorney implied on last night’s television skews that he had been charged in the money laundering conspiracy primarily because he and his wife owned property together. We’ll see if the evidence against Stanley Toelle’s proves he committed an act in furtherence of the money laundering. That, not participation in the drug trafficking, is all he’s been charged with.
Comment by Bill — February 7, 2016 @ 1:06 pm
Mike,
Coeur d’Alene’s, Kootenai County’s, and Idaho’s economic development depend on being able to plausibly assert that our communities are safe from crime. Being able to make that assertion stick is no less important and maybe even more important in communities that depend heavily on tourists and the money they bring with them to buy goods and services.
When Idaho communities are “served” by news media that are seemingly on board with underreporting unfavorable news and emphasizing happy news, what can appear to be denial of reality by the public is in fact denial of factual information by those who accept the public’s trust to factually and completely report it. To it’s credit, the Press did report Toelle’s indictment and arrest on the front page, above the fold, in its Saturday edition. The real test, though, will be to see if the Press continues to report the entire story as it unfolds or will it fall into its usual pattern of one-and-done. In this case, the story is not just about Toelle; it is about a major drug trafficking criminal enterprise allegedly operating for several years in this area as well as in Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, and Washington as well. How could that happen in Idaho? In Kootenai County? In Coeur d’Alene?
Comment by Bill — February 7, 2016 @ 1:58 pm
This bust reminds me of the Jerry S. Carlson, Insurance Agent scandal years back here in Coeur d’Alene … you never know, one arrest might lead to others. My question is why does it take so long? There was also the Keyser drug bust about the same time, Real Estate Brokers out of Priest River. It is definitely in our front yards and has been for years. I am an advocate for all legalization of drugs to a point. Dirty, filthy, business that hurts so many people, once the profit is removed, the romance will be over and we won’t need so many filthy lawyers or plea deals.
Comment by Stebbijo — February 7, 2016 @ 2:42 pm
Stebbijo,
You are so right about one arrest leading to another. Once people are in custody, their perspective on interpersonal loyalty can change as their prospect for long-term incarceration increases.
Putting together a case presentable to the US Attorney’s Office can take a long time because of the volume or complexity of the information — or because of the lack of information. Thoroughness is more important than speed in almost all cases. The objective is to gather as much evidence as possible, analyze it as thoroughly and objectively as possible, and then present a case to an intake AUSA or grand jury which avoids accusing anyone wrongly. A wrongful accusation, even one in which the accused may be guilty but the evidence will not substantiate a conviction, can damage the accused’s reputation and his ability to earn a living. Remember the Duke lacrosse case in 2014? They were wrongly accused by a prosecuting attorney whose political aspirations exceeded his professional integrity and competence.
Comment by Bill — February 7, 2016 @ 3:25 pm
I know one thing as I follow some cases that would be considered lower level offenders but habitual, and we have attorneys in this area who are too damn lazy to select a jury so they get off, because it is not cost effective to the general public.
Comment by Stebbijo — February 7, 2016 @ 3:52 pm