Melissa "The Missile" Giove
Melissa Giove
Melissa "The Missile" Giove - Champion Mountain Biker Arrested in Drug Bust
Major marijuana probe results in arrests in Saratoga area
By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, June 19, 2009
ALBANY -- The major drug bust of a thriving marijuana operation in Wilton this week nabbed two colorful characters: A one-time champion mountain biker and a budding filmmaker on a spiritual journey.
A federal judge set bail for the pair Thursday afternoon.
Police set up a sale between a confidential informant and former star mountain biker Melissa Giove. Police surveillance of the meeting led them to Wilton and the home of landscaper/filmmaker, Eric Canori.
Between a search of Giove's truck trailer and Canori's house, police seized nearly 400 pounds of pot, drug paraphernalia and $1 million in cash.
The news of Giove's arrest made national headlines Thursday, from ESPN to the New York Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times.
"Drug trafficking can lead you downhill fast," DEA Special Agent in Charge John P. Gilbride to said in a news release. "From championship mountain biking to street level drug dealing, the only reason people turn to drug trafficking is to make a profit from the sale of illicit narcotics."
Neither Giove nor Canori have criminal records.
Melissa Giove
In her racing prime she wore her hair in dreadlocks on the top of her head, shaved the sides and dyed the hair blond. A mug shot taken Tuesday after her arrest shows a dark-eyed, dark-skinned woman with a more traditional hairstyle, but tattoos are still visible on her neck and along the collar of her shirt. Giove is now 37 and lives in Chesapeake, Va.
Eric Canori
In 2007, Canori appeared before the Wilton zoning board seeking permission to build a house on 38 acres he owned on Dimmick Road. He planned to live there the rest of his life, according to the minutes of the meeting, and someday build a 4,000-square-foot house for his family on the property. At the time, he was involved in the landscaping business Creative Aquascapes.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Homer set bail for Giove Thursday at $250,000 and $500,000 for Canori. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Bellis argued against bail, saying both were a flight risk because the cash seized at Canori's house indicated the economic means to run.
Giove is represented by federal public defender Tim Austin. Canori's lawyer is John Coseo from Saratoga Springs. Both defendants are due in court again June 30 for a preliminary hearing.
According to Bellis, police tracked the truck Giove would later drive to Canori's house from the time it left California, allegedly driven by Giove's assistant. By the time the truck reached Albany, police were working with a confidential informant and closing a net around Giove, but they didn't know where she was headed in Saratoga County or what they would find there.
Here's what happened next, according to authorities:
Giove flew into Albany Airport at 10 a.m. Tuesday where investigators saw her leave the airport and travel to the Albany Hilton. At the hotel, Giove met the informant and the two drove away in a pick-up truck with a trailer attached. Giove dropped the informant off at a book store in Wilton and then met Canori at the Hannaford on Weibel Avenue.
She followed him back to his house where they unloaded some of the marijuana. Both then drove away in different directions but police continued to follow Giove.
Nearly 400 pounds of pot was confiscated from a truck driven by Melissa Giove and from Eric Canori's home outside Saratoga Springs, federal authorities say. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Police also took a money counter, plastic bags used to hold and conceal pot and nine cell phones.
source : marty angelo ministries
look at the celebrity outreach , many more besides this story
this is probablly old news especially for the new yorkers , but its new to me and maybe a few others , but dang this person was clearly in it for the money , she was set up all the way , met the informant with the pick up truck , was the truck already loaded ? anyway she plead guilty to helping to run a coast to coast marijuanna smuggling ring .
the trust is earned and returned. oh I rhymed stoner chick coming through..
