'Clerical error' blamed in forfeiture petition filing blunder

Dean Smoronk (Virginia State Police photo)

CONCORD - A senior lawyer with the Attorney General's office said a "clerical error" made early on in their investigation led to the untimely filing of a forfeiture petition that likely cost the state some $14,000 in cash that was found inside the home of suspected drug trafficker Dean Smoronk of Farmington.

"We made a clerical error early on and were off by one day," Ben Agati, a senior Assistant Attorney General, said on Monday.

Smoronk's 979 Meaderboro Road home's was the scene of a grisly double murder last January, and when Maine State Police executed a search warrant there in early February they found numerous drugs and drug paraphernalia as well as records and receipts and more than $14,000 in cash suspected to have been the result of illegal drug sales.

However, it wasn't until April 3 that the forfeiture petition was mailed - not delivered - to the Strafford County Superior Courthouse in Dover, resulting in its being filed on April 5 when it was received around 5 p.m., a day after the 60-day time window for such a notice.

The specific RSA that dictates the time frame is (318-B:17b). It states, "The department of justice shall, within 60 days of the seizure, file a petition in the superior court having jurisdiction. If no such petition is filed within 60 days, the items of property interests seized shall be released or returned to the owners."

When lawyers for Smoronk, now being held in Virginia on a separate drug trafficking case, petitioned to have the stay on Smoronk's money lifted, Strafford County Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard granted the motion, saying the forfeiture request was not received in time as required by statute.

Agati said on Monday they would not appeal Howard's ruling adding that the way the statute is written, "it prohibits us from going forward (with any type of appeal)."

Asked how such a mistake could've been made, Agati said, "There are a lot of different components that go into it, so it's hard for me to comment on that." He added that his office has some 60 such forfeiture actions pending.

"This one we pursued, we were one day off and we have to live with that," he added.

Smoronk's Farmington home was the scene of a double murder in January, when his longtime girlfriend, Christine Sullivan, 48, along with Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington, were brutally stabbed to death on Jan. 27.

Timothy Verrill, 34, of Dover, and a longtime friend of both Smoronk and Sullivan, was arrested in the two women's deaths in February in Massachusetts. He is being held without bail at Carroll County Jail.

Smoronk, 55, has never been implicated as either a suspect or person of interest in the deaths.

He remains on no bail following his arrest on June 11 during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Virginia that yielded a huge cache of drugs. The car was stopped while speeding through a work zone, according to Virginia State Police.

Smoronk's next court appearance is a probable cause hearing Nov. 16 in Hanover County (Va) District Court.

He is currently being held at Pamunkey Region Jail in Hanover.