A 57-year-old real estate agent from suburban Los Angeles has been arrested for the first time in his life at Chicago Union Station, allegedly with roughly 164 pounds of cocaine in his luggage.
“Wow. That’s a lot. I mean, that’s a lot,” observed Judge Deidre Dyer during the first court appearance for the agent, Jerome Nalbandian.
Prosecutors said Nalbandian was apprehended at Union Station on April 13 with 75.15 kilograms of suspected cocaine tucked into four roller bags. That comes to 163.47 pounds.
“I have so many questions, but I know I’m not going to get the answers to them today,” the befuddled judge commented.
“I’m totally shocked it’s not a federal case,” the judge commented, “but whatever. Nobody comes from another state with that many kilos. I don’t know. But I guess somebody in the drug unit was just itching to file something.”
After repeatedly confirming with prosecutors, a public attorney, and court personnel that Nalbandian had never been arrested and that the state was not attempting to retain him, Dyer freed him to await trial.
“So I’m just telling you,” Dyer warned, “you can mess around and go back to California and think it’s not just going to go away. So it would behoove you to get to all of your court dates. For this class of offense if you fail to come to court, I’m certain we would come and get you and assist you back here. Just so you know.”
A mugshot of Nalbandian was not available. He is charged with trafficking a controlled substance.
