WAVERLY — The owners of the Hill Top Stop are among eight people accused of trafficking $20 million in pot and cocaine with ties to Russian organized crime in Ohio and an area murder.

Convenience-store owners Harold J. Fraser, 43, and Sabrina Fraser, 37, of 65 Church St., Dickinson were charged, along with William F. Votra, 30, of Hopkinton, with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Mr. Fraser and Votra are also charged with second-degree conspiracy, while Randy Langdon, 29, of St. Regis Falls, was arrested for third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

TWO-YEAR PROBE

Their arrests end what police said was a two-year intra-state and international drug-smuggling operation that allegedly saw Konstantine B. Sorin, 24, and Ashley R. Schmid, 21, both of Beachwood, Ohio, use rental cars every two weeks to tote cocaine into New York, then return with 100 pounds of Canadian-grown hydroponic pot that had been smuggled across the border in both Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.

Each was charged with first-degree attempted possession of marijuana, as was Mark A. Veverka, 34, of Willoughby, Ohio.

Jovane R. Rosa, 26, of Troy was also charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana.

All are expected to face federal charges as the investigation continues.

The smugglers allegedly had plastic bags of cocaine casually stored in a household-junk drawer and used hollowed-out computer consoles to stash neat bundles of cash, enlarged photos of which were shown at a news conference Wednesday.

SHOT DOWN

Prosecutors say the network is also connected to the May 12, 2008, shooting death of Daniel Simonds, who was gunned down on his front porch in the Town of Stockholm, which is in St. Lawrence County. Simonds died several hours later.

Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne said Simonds was smuggling pot regularly to Ohio and that it went to the same buyers.

Four people are in federal custody related to that murder: two are incarcerated in Canada, and another is still at large, said Nicole Duve, district attorney in St. Lawrence County.