Drug dealer's cars up for auction

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Three dozen collector cars are going up for auction in Shelbyville, Ind. this weekend. But that's only part of the story.

Call it "pot luck". The cars going up for auction were bought with money made from selling marijuana. And the drug dealer who owned them almost never drove them -- so if you collect cars, you could be in luck.

Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Brodeur said the cars were owned by Larry DeBerry, who was a long time marijuana dealer. DeBerry was arrested in 2006 after dealing marijuana in Marion, Morgan and Hancock counties for, police say, some 25 years.

"It has taken us three years for the legal process to get to the point where we're now ready to auction off these vehicles," said Brodeur.

The vehicles that had been gathering dust in storage for years and have been cleaned up, fixed up and are ready to be sold.

Among the choices is a 2003 Mustang Cobra with fewer than 4,000 miles. But if that's too new for you, perhaps a '57 Cheverolet Bel Air convertible is more to your liking.

Many of the vehicles are not only unusual -- like a 1966 Plymouth with the very first hemi engine in it -- but they come with clean titles, making it more likely buyers will be willing to spend money on them.

Brent Fuchs of Indy Motor Car Auction Group said, “We anticipate that this collection that we're looking at here could bring in excess of half a million dollars."

The money will help pay the costs of putting DeBerry behind bars.

Brodeur said, "Once all of those expenses, which are fairly significant, are paid, than half of the money will to law enforcement -- that is, state police and Marion County Prosecutor's Office, and the remainder will go to the DeBerry estate."

DeBerry was sentenced to five years in prison, but died before he finished serving the sentence.

The cars will be part of a bigger two-day auction that will take place in Shelbyville.

For more information, go to the Indy Motor Car Auction Group web site .