Simone Farrow Arrested: Swimsuit Model Simone 'Starr,' Alleged Drug Kingpin Claims 'Murder Target' [PHOTOS]
A Hollywood swimsuit model was busted after the DEA arrested Simone Farrow in Australia for heading an international drug ring. Over a month ago, she skipped out on bail and was on the run from the law.
Farrow was a former men's magazine swimsuit model and Penthouse Pet, who appeared in Ed Hardy advertisements often under the stage-name Simone Starr. She reportedly used 19 different aliases to ship methamphetamine to cities and countries around the world. She used FedEx and local postal services to send the illegal narcotics across the globe, reported ABC.
The 37-year-old was taken into custody in Queensland on Australia's Gold Coast. She was extradited to Sydney last week and denied the charges against her, claiming she was forced to go into hiding, fearing for her life.
The only reason I've done this is because someone was trying to murder me, Farrow told Australia's Sunday Telegraph. I've been in ... relationships with numerous underworld figures or whatever you want to call them and I feel that maybe they feel threatened by my situation. I wasn't trying to flee the country at all; I was trying to protect myself from being killed or harmed.
Farrow was seen dressed in a white tracksuit and hoodie. She reportedly had tears in her eyes and hung her head down as she was escorted away, according to the Telegraph.
It's either a person or an organization, she said. I will bring [details] to light during the next couple of weeks.
According to court documents, Farrow lived an extraordinary life of crime, while she was voted one of FHM magazine's sexiest women in the world.
She allegedly ran her drug empire from an apartment near Sunset Boulevard, as she became involved with narcotics, stand over men and criminal organizations in the United States and Australia, reported the Daily Mail. However, she was being closely monitored by the authorities.
It's not uncommon in the modeling and entertainment industry, former special agent Brad Garrett told ABC News. If your skill set doesn't take you any place else, where's it going to take you? A quick buck would be distributing methamphetamine. It tells me that she was not that sophisticated, and she may be desperate for money.
Police claim she often sent high-grade crystal-meth, which would pile up on desks in the apartment, to New South Wales and Victoria, hidden in packages containing bath products, pants or fountain kits, reported the Daily Mail.
Buyers would send Farrow cash through the mail or make deposits at various National Australia Bank branches into her bank account.
Over $580,000 was deposited into her account between February 2009 and October 2010, reported Australia News.
Mark Andrew Bolton told police that he paid Farrow over $200,000 for drugs during the time she was allegedly running the operation. The two had a close relationship and Farrow even allegedly called him Dad, reported Australia News.
After several packages that were headed to Australia was detained on suspicion of narcotics, the DEA and the Australian Federal Police opened up a joint investigation into Farrow and her company called GlobalStarr.
The DEA contacted Xander Rian, an account executive of GlobalStarr on October 14, 2009. They wanted to arrange a 2 p.m. meeting. When DEA agents showed up, he was dead from apparent suicide.
The investigation did not stop and after months of work, DEA agents raided Farrow's Hollywood apartment, seizing a quantity ice, the common street name for crystal-meth.
Farrow was arrested, but was granted bail. As a condition of her bail, she was ordered to remain at an apartment designated by the court. However, after she failed to appear at her court dates, she was became a fugitive, fleeing the United States.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.