DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                 TAG: 9703070650

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   60 lines

DAVID C. SULLIVAN SENT POT BY THE WINNEBAGO-LOAD TO HAMPTON ROADS. ARIZONAN PLEADS GUILTY TO LONG CAREER IN DRUGS, FORFEITS MILLIONS

A high-living Arizona man who supplied thousands of kilos of marijuana to a gang of former flower children in Hampton Roads has pleaded guilty to drug-running.

As a result, he agreed to forfeit more than $10 million in cash, retirement accounts and investments, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate and jewelry.

David C. Sullivan, 48, of Tucson, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to possess drugs with intent to distribute. He shipped pot by the Winnebago-load, supplying drugs for 25 years to the Howell gang, a group of men and women in Virginia Beach who met at Old Dominion University in the 1970s.

Sullivan and others amassed small fortunes, prudently saving, buying property and investing for retirement.

Most lived modestly to avoid attention, spending money only on lavish vacations. Sullivan lived a bit more comfortably, in a home worth about $250,000.

Sullivan was a skilled carpenter who used his artisan business as a front to launder money in Tucson. He was active in community affairs and involved with his children's activities.

``He was educated, intelligent and hard-working. He believed in the legalization of marijuana,'' said his attorney, Andrew A. Protogyrou. He said Sullivan taught his children to respect the environment and avoid violence on television. ``This has been devastating to him and his family. He lost everything,'' Protogyrou said.

Sullivan's wife has pleaded guilty to money laundering in Illinois, one of Sullivan's distribution areas.

Sullivan bought marijuana wholesale from Mexico or from dealers on the Mexican border. He shipped pot to Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and Illinois.

He used his carpentry skills to build complex hidden vaults in the walls of his Tucson home. One was in a closet behind a cedar wall, with cedar planks attaching like a jigsaw puzzle. It could be opened by hitting seams on certain boards. Federal agents found the compartment using a thermal imaging device that picked up a difference in temperature in the wall, then found hairline seams in the cedar. Inside, agents found $29,000 cash.

Agents also found two floor safes hidden under carpeting and plywood. One had jewelry, including three uncut precious stones, rubies and sapphires.

Sullivan was the only ring member that had been arrested for drugs before. That arrest led to tragedy, prosecutor Kevin Comstock told the judge. Though Sullivan never carried guns, agents surrounding his vehicle mistakenly fired, killing a fellow agent in the crossfire. Those charges against Sullivan apparently were dismissed.

While several gang members took Caribbean vacations, Sullivan apparently went around the world, including an expedition across Africa, whitewater rafting trips and other ``back to nature'' adventures, federal authorities said. He also traveled in England and Europe.

When federal agents executed search warrants on Sullivan's Tucson home in November, they found Sullivan had just had plastic surgery and arrested him, bandages and all. KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST MARIJUANA

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