N.J. inmate denied Utah land-sale funds

A New Jersey inmate is not entitled to proceeds of the sale of a parcel of Park City land, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins determined the land was purchased with money from illicit drug sales and denied Steven Kadonsky's request that the federal government turn over the $300,000 to which he claimed he was entitled.

Kadonsky, 49, represented himself at an August bench trial before Jenkins. Kadonsky claimed he was wrong in 1994 when he told a grand jury that the Utah property was purchased entirely with drug proceeds. The convicted drug trafficker, who is serving a 25-to-life prison sentence in Somerset County, N.J., said he has since realized the money was from legitimate services he offered his partner, who had helped him in a nationwide marijuana trafficking organization.

Jenkins dismissed Kadonsky's new-found recollection, saying the inmate is "unabashedly trying to recharacterize in retrospect the source of the funds."