Former decorated Navy SEAL and CIA special agent is arrested for 'being part of a DRUG RING smuggling marijuana from Colombia'

A former CIA special agent and decorated US Navy Seal has been arrested in connection with an ongoing federal marijuana smuggling investigation with deep ties to Columbia.

James Dennis 'J.D.' Smith, 49, was arrested Saturday in Charlotte, South Carolina. On the same day, two Columbia SC area brothers, Carl Rye, 41, and Bryon Rye, 43, were picked up in a Rosewood Drive house by authorities.

Smith was identified as a former Navy SEAL and CIA special agent by multiple sources familiar with the drug smuggling case, according to The State.

They are each charged with conspiring to distribute at least 1,540 pounds of marijuana since 2014 according to the complaint. Each charge carries a sentence of 5 to 40 years.

Smith and the Ryes appeared Monday in federal court, shackled hand and foot and in orange jumpsuits, in Columbia for their initial arraignment. They are held without bond.

The former Navy SEAL and CIA agent allegedly supplied the Rye brothers with the pot. Bryon Rye supplied the money to buy Smith's marijuana, and Carl Rye sold the marijuana in South Carolina, including to a distributor in Beaufort County, according to the complaint.

On numerous occasions, Smith landed his private airplane at Jim Hamilton-Owens Field in Columbia to pick up money owed to him by the Rye brothers. Each time Smith landed at Owens Field, Bryon Rye went to a bank to get cash from a safe deposit box he kept there to pay Smith for the marijuana, the complaint said.

Smith had bought the twin-engine Cessna with a range of some 1,000 miles, under the business name of 'The Praetorian' for use in medical humanitarian missions in Central America, according to aviation and court records.

Some of the pot seized was in a storage unit belonging to Carl Rye was legal medical marijuana that came from California, but it was marked 'Unlawful to redistribute,' according to the complaint.

Smith was identified as a former Navy SEAL and CIA special agent by multiple sources familiar with the drug smuggling case.

Smith was also listed as a principal associate at a security and crisis management consulting company, but the company said Monday he hasn't worked there for at least five years.

The arrest of Smith and the Ryes are part of a three-year investigation in which the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcement agents used a variety of tactics to narrow in on the trio.

Airplane records, safe deposit box records, text message records, vehicle electronic tracking devices, video surveillance cameras, drug-sniffing dogs, GPS cell phone tracking, still photographs and plain old-fashioned stakeouts and the tailing of suspects were integral to the investigation leading up to the three arrests.

The Ryes were picked up on Saturday in a daylight raid on a house in the Rosewood section of Columbia.

Neighbors were shocked at the site of more than a dozen heavily armed agents in about 10 unmarked cars who smashed a hole in the door of the house at 3905 Rosewood Drive, where Bryon Rye lived.

Neighbor Pam Moore caught the scene when she drove by Saturday around 4pm. She said around 10 officers were outside the home.

'I was like, what's going on?,' said Moore. 'SWAT guys were in their full gear on the edge (of the wall in front of the house). I think they were trying to protect the scene.' Moore said she also saw a box outside the home that read 'DEA Evidence.'

The Ryes stored marijuana they got from Smith at two different storage units at different companies. Carl Rye rented one at the Riverchase Self Storage in Lexington, and the other at The Storage Center in Aiken according to the complaint.

An Internet site of a security and crisis management company that Smith worked for, said Smith was in the SEALS for 16 years and was recruited by the CIA as 'a special agent for the Office of Security.'

As a SEAL, Smith served in Iraq and won a Bronze Star with V for heroism in combat and won a Special Operations Medic of the Year award. With the CIA, he provided security for US and foreign clients in war-zone environments, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan, Africa and Latin America according to the company's website.

The case was developed by the DEA and its state Tactical Diversion Squad, which includes officers from Richland County, Columbia police and the 5th Circuit Solicitor's office. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations also assisted.

The DailyMail