Revere man gets year in smuggling case

PEABODY – A Revere man involved in a large-scale marijuana smuggling operation was sentenced to a year in federal prison Tuesday.Brian Toto, 43, pleaded guilty in September to charges that he was the “bagman” after he was seen handing a duffel bag containing more than $200,000 in cash to drivers of a tractor-trailer hauling 543 pounds of marijuana in May 2009.U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel ordered Toto to three years of supervised release following his jail time, which he will begin serving in January.Aside from Toto, four other men were arrested in the bust. Philip Watson, 37, of Saugus pleaded guilty to allegedly acting as a lookout while the tractor-trailer was unloaded in a Costco parking lot in Danvers and reloaded into another vehicle taken to Peabody. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 18.Michael Schrimpf, 36, of Saugus; Robert “RJ” Norton, Jr., 41, and Melvin Vanmeter, 38, both of Indianapolis, Ind., were charged with trafficking Class D, marijuana, over 200 pounds and conspiracy to violate drug laws.