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Fabini property forfeited to feds

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) The federal government is now the new owner of 192 bottles of fine wine, more than $20,000 worth of chairs and bar stools and a coin collection – courtesy Michael A. Fabini.

According to 24-Hour News 8 sister station, WANE, a final order of forfeiture of property was ordered Tuesday in U.S. District Court against Fabini, the brother of former NFL lineman Jason Fabini who ran a major marijuana distribution operation for more than two years out of a home at 5603 Kohard Place on the city’s northeast side.

In line with a November plea deal that found him guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana in an amount of 2,200 pounds or more and monetary transaction derived from drug trafficking and netted him 24 total years in federal prison, Fabini was forced to forfeit $5 million along with his personal property.

And the personal property turned over to the federal government from Fabini’s home at 6619 Cherry Hill Parkway was numerous, and expensive.

The order lists 25 pages of items, including $5,000 in dining chairs, a $3,500 sofa and pillows, more than $15,000 in Mikhail Darafeey bar stools, club chairs and a poker table, and a collection of nearly 200 bottles of fine wine including a bottle of 2008 Hundred Acre Kayli Morgan Vineyard Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon valued at $600. Fabini also forfeited a coin collection and jewelry, a $4,000 home theater projector, a $6,000 riding lawn mower and investment accounts for his wife and children.

The property will be used to pay off the monetary judgement against Fabini.

The case found, in addition to Fabini, co-conspirators Marshall Butler, Jamison Gudorf and Matthew J. McChesney guilty for the marijuana distribution operation.

Butler pleaded guilty in October and agreed to testify against Fabini. Gudorf then was sentenced to 27 months in prison in February 2014. Another man, Matthew J. McChesney, was involved in the drug trafficking operation, according to authorities. He’s serving 27 years in prison after more than three-and-a-half tons of marijuana worth an estimated $6 million was found at a home on Antwerp Road in 2008.