A father and son who were part of a criminal enterprise that sold narcotics out of a Southwest Baltimore auto body shop pleaded guilty this week to federal drug and burglary charges.
Chad Paschall, 28, of Baltimore pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiring to distribute oxycodone and to commit bank burglary; his father, David Paschall, 54, of Catonsville, pleaded guilty to similar charges on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
David Paschall operated Paschall's Auto Body Shop at 801 Desoto Road, Baltimore, where authorities said it was widely known as a marketplace for oxycodone, cocaine, heroin and other drugs. His son, who was at the shop almost every day, helped broker drug sales, officials said.
"This case dismantled an organization responsible for a wide range of criminal activity," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to charges unsealed this summer, the group sold an estimated $2 million in drug and netted an estimated $1 million from burglaries in which they sometimes would cut power and telephone lines, use sledgehammers and blow torches to steal everything from cash to vehicles to drugs. Once, the father and son used a forklift to stack up several junk cars at a Baltimore salvage lot, climbed atop them and broke into the office, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Then, they used the forklift to bring an office safe to the ground, breaking it open and taking $48,000 from it, the office said.
David Paschall has agreed to forfeit $500,000, his home, car, interest in the body shop and several firearms, while Chad Paschall will forfeit $250,000, his interest in his home and firearms and ammunition, officials said.
They face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the drug conspiracy, plus five years in prison for the bank larceny conspiracy.
Ten defendants in the case have pleaded guilty to date, and charges are pending against six other defendants, the office said.