Federal marijuana raid in Flathead County leads to guilty plea
Mar 27, 2012 Online Issue
A 33-year-old Whitefish man pleaded guilty Monday to federal drug charges related to a raid of his medical marijuana dispensary last March.
Christopher Ryan Durbin entered the guilty pleas during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula, admitting to charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and structuring or making bank deposits of less than $10,000 in order to avoid IRS reporting requirements.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 29. He faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, but could be sentenced to 40 years and fined $2 million.
According to an offer of proof by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara Elliott, Durbin owned and operated several businesses in the Columbia Falls area, including Northern Lights Medical, which helped customers apply for their medical marijuana patient cards, and Good Medicine Providers, a medical marijuana dispensary.
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Tags: Flathead county, marijuana, marijuana bust
Wyo. troopers seize 74 pounds of marijuana on I-80
Mar 19, 2012 Online Issue
EVANSTON, Wyo. — Wyoming authorities are investigating following the seizure of 74 pounds of marijuana from a car on Interstate 80.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol said Monday that the marijuana – estimated to be worth about a half-million dollars – was discovered Thursday during a traffic stop near Evanston, near the Utah border.
The driver, 41-year-old Christopher Brady, was arrested and was being held in Evanston.
Investigators believe Brady was driving from the Portland, Oregon area and may have planned to deliver the marijuana in or around Kansas City.
The patrol and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation are both investigating.
SOURCE: BND.COM
Tags: evanston, marijuana, marijuana bust, Wyoming
Celebrity marijuana busts, action-hero sheriff’s deputy putting dusty West Texas county on map
Jan 30, 2012 Online Issue
SIERRA BLANCA, Texas — Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town
stands what’s become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.
Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and actor Armie Hammer have been among the thousands of people busted for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town in recent years, bringing a bit of notoriety to one of Texas’ most sparsely populated counties.
“Once I was in Arizona, and when I said where I was from, they said, ‘That’s where Willie Nelson was busted,’” said Louise Barantley, manager at the Coyote Sunset souvenir shop in Sierra Blanca.
Hudspeth County cameos aren’t only for outlaws: Action movie star Steven Seagal, who’s already deputized in Louisiana and Arizona for his reality show “Steven Seagal Lawman” on A&E, has signed on to become a county officer.
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Tags: arrests, CELEBRITY, marijuana bust
Drug Task Force Nets Nearly Four Hundred Pounds of Marijuana
Dec 4, 2011 Online Issue
After drug task force agents seized nearly 400 pounds of marijuana from an Inver Grove Heights residence and shut down a 464-plant
marijuana-growing operation in Zumbrota, a 30-year-old Rosemount woman is facing two felony counts in Dakota County District Court.
Holly Joann Swenson was charged on Dec. 2 with two first-degree controlled substance crimes – possession with intent to distribute and possession – after what is believed to be one of the county’s largest marijuana busts, according to Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom in statements to the media.
Swenson may have faced drug charges after a Nov. 4 Dakota County Drug Task Force search of 9244 Inver Grove Trail discovered 14.42 pounds of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and several guns.
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Huge marijuana haul seized on US-Mexico border
Nov 20, 2011 Online Issue
ORE than 12 tonnes of marijuana has been seized after the discovery of a cross-border tunnel that authorities say is one of the most
significant drug smuggling passages ever found on the US-Mexico border.
The tunnel stretched about 400m and linked warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, authorities said on Wednesday.
US authorities on Tuesday seized an estimated 8-9 tonnes marijuana inside a truck and at the warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area, said Derek Benner, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego.
Two charged with having ton of pot
Mar 28, 2011 Online Issue
Two men arrested with a truck containing more than a ton of marijuana on the West Side 
on Friday were each ordered held on $500,000 bail by a judge this weekend.
State Police and DEA agents nabbed Carlos Leyva, 32, of Stickney, and Johani Reyes-Montijo, of Chicago, at a warehouse in the 2400 block of West Grand after tailing them from a drug deal, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Joseph Carlson said.
Reye-Montijo, who appeared in court Sunday, drove the truck while Leyva, who was in court Saturday, followed in a lookout car, Carlson said.
The marijuana had a street value of $4.8 million, he added.
SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times
Tags: Carlos Leyva, Johani Reyes, marijuana bust
$1.5 Million Marijuana Bust in Va.
Mar 21, 2011 Online Issue
State police say they found 500 marijuana plants and an assortment of rifles and pistols at a Fincastle man’s home.
Frank Fleet has been charged with possessing marijuana with intent to distribute it after a raid Thursday at his home. State police estimated the street value of the marijuana plants and 20 pounds of dried pot is about $1.5 million.
Botetourt County Commonwealth’s Attorney Joel Branscom told The Roanoke Times that the plants were growing indoors.
Source: NBC Washington
Tags: Botetourt County, marijuana bust
