Mobtown Beat
Hunt for Baltimore Pot Fugitives Goes High-Profile as Co-defendants Head to Prison
Nicka and Peterson profiled among D.C.'s most wanted
U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force
David D’Amico, Gretchen Peterson, Matt Nicka, and Jeffrey Putney
Published: January 16, 2013
The Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office is all but done prosecuting the cross-country, $30-million, decade-long pot conspiracy, centered in Baltimore, involving local real-estate developer Jeremy Landsman and impresario Daniel McIntosh (“Risky Business,” Feature, Aug. 15, 2012). With McIntosh and pilot Keegan Leahy convicted by a jury last fall (“Former Sonar co-owner Dan McIntosh convicted, but spared mandatory life sentence,” Mobtown Beat, Nov. 7, 2012), and most of the 10 others who pleaded guilty already sentenced (“Baltimore real-estate developer Jeremiah ‘Jeremy’ Landsman among those sentenced in pot-conspiracy case,” The News Hole, Jan. 9), only four remain to be prosecuted: lead conspirator Matt Nicka, his assistant and presumed paramour Gretchen Peterson, top lieutenant David D’Amico, and pot-shipment logistician Jeffrey Putney.
The hunt for Nicka and Peterson heated up publicly on Jan. 2, when the Washington Examiner profiled them as among D.C.’s “Most Wanted.” City Paper followed up with Matthew Burke, supervisory inspector for the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, who said in an email that “this is a very active case for us” and added that “we are sending leads throughout the U.S. that are being followed up on.” As for D’Amico and Putney, Burke said that he planned to send their pictures to The Examiner “at some point later if still necessary to keep the interest and pressure going.” When City Paper suggested that the fugitives may be living abroad, Burke explained that the U.S. Marshals have international reach.
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