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Last updated on Friday, November 4, 2011
(ELKHART) - A California man has been convicted of smuggling nearly 90 pounds of cocaine that police found inside a Rolls Royce and a Mercedes Benz he was transporting on the Indiana Toll Road.
State troopers found the cocaine inside hidden compartments in April after stopping the semitrailer driven by 46-year-old Patrick Austin, of California, on the highway near Elkhart. An Elkhart County jury convicted Austin on two felony counts of cocaine dealing.
County prosecutors say the cocaine amounted to some 200,000 doses with a street value of about $4 million. They maintain Austin had transported the Rolls Royce Phantom across the country at least seven times.
Austin faces prison terms of 20 years to 50 years on each count at his sentencing scheduled for November 17.
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