Tom Carter, 58, was released from federal custody on Wednesday following a detention hearing that morning in San Francisco, according to US Attorney's Office spokesman Jack Gillund.
“He was released on a $200,000 bond,” said Gillund, explaining that Carter's release was obtained through a combination of a security on his property on Hunter Point Road and his brother's signature.
Carter's wife, Jamie Ceridono – who would not comment on the case – also is being required to surrender her passport, according to court records.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials arrested Carter and three other people – Brett Bassignani, and Scott and Diana Feil – in Upper Lake on Aug. 18, as Lake County News has reported.
A fifth subject, Steven Swanson, 59, of Sebastopol, who is Diana Feil's stepfather, was arrested the same day in Sebastopol.
Gillund said Carter is scheduled to return to federal court in San Francisco at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 2 for a preliminary hearing and arraignment before Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman.
Like Carter, Bassignani, 43, is required to return to San Francisco for a Sept. 2 court appearance. He was released under a set of conditions that included his remaining in the area and a $200,000 bond partially secured by his parents' Nice property.
Warrants for the five made available by the federal courts show that all were arrested on charges of conspiring to distribute marijuana and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, and distributing and possessing with intent to distribute marijuana.
However, the case against Carter and Bassignani is separate from the case against the Feils and Swanson, according to documents released Thursday.
Each of the charges against Carter and Bassignani carry a minimum of five years in federal prison – with a maximum of 40 years – and a possible $2 million fine, as well as supervised release of a minimum of four years up to a maximum lifetime term.
While the Feils and Swanson are facing similar charges, because they're charged with distributing more than 100 kilograms of marijuana between 2002 and 2008, the possible penalties for them are much higher, with minimum prison terms of 10 years or maximum life terms, $4 million fines and five year minimum supervised release.
Gillund would offer no further comment on Carter's case; however, an unsealed complaint against Carter and Bassignani accused them of conspiring with others to sell more than 100 marijuana plants to an informant in May.
A confidential source allegedly called on the morning of May 10, 2006, to arrange to purchase 500 rooted marijuana plant clones from Carter and Bassignani. While the informant is said to have called Carter to arrange the deal, no direct contact was made with Carter and a voice mail was left.
Bassignani allegedly returned the call several minutes later, identified himself as a Carter Construction employee and agreed to deliver the plants to the informant, who was accompanied by two undercover DEA agents, at the Middle Creek Campground north of Upper Lake. The informant allegedly bought the plants for $15 each, or about $7,500.
Bassignani is alleged to have told agents that he was Carter's “plant manager,” and that he was employed “for the sole purpose of caring for marijuana plants, and that his salary was paid for entirely with proceeds from the sale of marijuana.”
Feils, Swanson charged in an unconnected case
Scott Feil, 43, was in court for a custody hearing on Thursday morning and is expected to be released soon. A call to George Boisseau, a Santa Rosa attorney appointed to his case, was not returned.
He and Swanson were listed as the corporate officers of the United Medical Caregivers Clinic medical cannabis dispensary, which had storefronts in Los Angeles and Ukiah. The Feils and Swanson were said to have received salaries from UMCC between 2003 and 2008.
In November of 2005 the DEA and the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a traffic stop on Scott Feil while he was traveling from the Los Angeles area north. During the stop they found and seized approximately $131,132 in cash which Feil said was the proceeds from UMCC marijuana sales that he was transporting on Swanson's behalf. Those funds are part of another federal forfeiture case.
A source reported to the DEA in June of 2007 that Swanson was transporting large amounts of marijuana once a week to the Ukiah club. The Feils are also reported to have bought two Eureka hotels in the last several years.
Then, on July 15 and July 27, the DEA performed aerial surveillance of the Feils' properties on Hunter Point Road and Bachelor Valley Road in Upper Lake, and observed outdoor marijuana cultivation sites. The DEA also spotted an outdoor grow during a flyover at the Feils' Redwood Valley residence.
In addition to the grows, the DEA did “a basic financial analysis of the gross deposits from credit card settlements from transactions occurring at the UMCC storefront locations,” and concluded that the Feils and Swanson allegedly distributed more than 100 kilograms of marijuana from 2002 and 2008.
Diana Feil, 27, was seeking to obtain her release so she could return to work. The family of Swanson, a decorated retiree of the New York Police Department, where he served for 30 years, is putting up security so that he can obtain his release.
It was not clear if Diana Feil and Swanson had yet been released from custody on Thursday.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
