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United States News Title: Nebraska was destination for trafficking ring's black market marijuana, officials say A Colorado marijuana trafficking ring illegally shipped the drug to a half-dozen other states, including Nebraska, authorities announced this week. A Denver grand jury indicted 62 people and 12 businesses this month in a case that targets the largest illegal marijuana operation discovered since Colorado legalized recreational pot in 2012, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said. The ring operated under the guise of medical marijuana patient caregivers, property managers servicing growers and small business owners while producing more than 100 pounds of illegal pot each month for shipment to Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma and other states. "The black market for marijuana has not gone away since recreational marijuana was legalized in our state, and in fact continues to flourish," Coffman said in a statement. The ring raked in an estimated $200,000 a month between 2012 and 2016, Coffman said. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson thanked Coffman on Thursday for "exposing the influx of Colorado marijuana entering Nebraska." His office had sued the state over legalization's cross-border effects. "The marijuana industry and its proponents have long purported legalization would regulate this potent and dangerous drug," Peterson said in a statement. "However, this announcement proves what we have known, our challenge in Nebraska is that the marijuana market is flourishing as the industry continues exporting high-potency marijuana across the country." Nebraska's tie to the ring is seen in the roles of two men named in the indictment: Christian Jones of Ogallala and Joel Vlasin of Denver. Authorities allege in the indictment that Jones was a transporter and Vlasin a cultivator of marijuana. Both had 36 pounds of marijuana from the ring during a Nebraska traffic stop, according to the indictment. On Dec. 9, 2015, a Nebraska State Patrol trooper pulled Vlasin over on Interstate 80 near Ogallala, according to Nebraska court records. The trooper first stopped Vlasin at 11:30 a.m. and suspected he was involved in criminal activity because his travel plans seemed illogical, the trooper said. He had planned to meet up with Jones in Roscoe later and go to Lincoln, Vlasin told the trooper. The trooper asked to search his vehicle, but Vlasin denied him access to his pickup. After letting him go, the trooper had a State Patrol airplane follow the truck, which parked outside Jones’ home, the trooper said. A car then backed up to Vlasin’s truck and two large black suitcases were unloaded into it. Then the car left. The trooper who stopped Vlasin earlier spotted the car traveling 5 mph faster than the speed limit on the edge of Paxton and pulled it over as it headed to the interstate. After noticing the scent of marijuana, the trooper searched the car and found the marijuana in the two suitcases. Vlasin and Jones were arrested and ultimately sentenced to probation on attempted marijuana possession charges. Each faces at least 10 charges in the Colorado indictments. Overall, the defendants in the case were charged with 31 felony counts of money-laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes. Most are now under arrest awaiting trial dates in Denver District Court. In addition to growing black-market pot in private homes, the indictment says, some defendants ran phony marijuana consulting businesses or leasing agencies. Some held partial ownership in a suburban Denver store that sells marijuana growing supplies, which the indictment says allowed them to have ready access to nutrients, pesticides and other supplies. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and some state law enforcement outside Colorado, including the Nebraska State Patrol, assisted in the investigation. Barbra Roach, who heads the DEA's Denver Division, said her office has seen an influx of organized crime popping up in Colorado on the heels of pot's legalization solely to produce marijuana to sell outside the state. "The marijuana black market has increased exponentially since (then)," Roach said. http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/nebraska-was-destination- for-trafficking-ring-s-black-market-marijuana/article_9a170631-972f-5b8c-bcef- 353d37f1841f.html Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Gatlin (#0)
Yeah, "Nebraska Cow Tips" is involved. Did you call them?
A sizable bust but this is a drop in the bucket. There are tons of these small marginal growers transporting pot from CO into surrounding states. No doubt, the same is true in many other states.
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