A longtime Aspen resident was arrested by the DEA in Big Pine Key, Fla., today on a drug-trafficking charge out of Colorado.
Montgomery Chitty is being held without bond.
Earlier today, a federal grand jury in Denver indicted Chitty, 60, on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms cocaine.
The charge stemmed from a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into cocaine distribution in Aspen in 2010, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver said today.
Last year, 10 defendants were arrested on cocaine conspiracy charges in the Aspen and Los Angeles areas, seven of whom have since agreed to plead guilty.
If convicted, Chitty faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and the possibility of life in prison, prosecutors said. He also face a fine of up to $10 million.
Public records show Chitty has maintained residences in the Aspen area and south Florida since the early 1980s.
His occupation is listed as manager of Bonefish Ranch in Big Pine Key.
Chitty has had civil and criminal court appearances in Pitkin County over the years, court records show. In May 1997, he was charged with felony menacing with a deadly weapon and possession of a weapon by a previous offender. Court records indicate the charges were dropped about six weeks later.
His ex-wife, whom he had divorced in Colorado five years earlier, received a restraining order at about the same time.
