This is really weird. The NY Times article speculates that it was Mr. Sharp's reluctance to expand into internet sales that led him to the dark side of the criminal underworld. Innocent until proven guilty. Perhaps if this strange story is true, illness or advancing age.old age might have led to a failure of judgement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/magazine/the-sinaloa-cartels-90-year-old-drug-mule.html?hp

Excerpt:
Sharp�s neighbors in Michigan City remember buses filled with customers idling outside his front gate waiting to buy his signature flowers, almost all named after his business, Brookwood Gardens. There was Brookwood Black Kitten, Brookwood Sweetie Face, Brookwood Barely Pink, Brookwood Pink Sometimes, Brookwood Pink Pinup, Brookwood Right Now, Brookwood Ambivalent and Brookwood Wow.

The world of day lilies belonged to him, one gushing profile in a day-lily newsletter declared in 2009. Little did they know that this "accomplished hybridizer and most generous man" was in all likelihood already working as one of the cartel�s primary couriers. "By mid-2010, he had already brought 1,100 kilos here to Detroit," said Chris Graveline, the assistant U.S. attorney assigned to Sharp�s case.

Sharp traveled across the country for day-lily speaking engagements and conventions, but federal authorities say they believe he made time to visit Mexico for his other line of work. "Bosses in Mexico know of the Grandfather," Moore said.