Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 2016
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154

CASE SHOWS VALUE OF ILLEGAL POT TRADE

(AP) - Federal prosecutors want to take ownership of luxury cars, 
homes, watches and more than 1,000 pot plants seized from marijuana 
growers accused of illegally cultivating pot and sending it to 
Florida, a case authorities say represents the growing problem of 
illegal drug traffickers seeking a safe haven in Colorado's 
flourishing marijuana industry.

A forfeiture lawsuit filed Thursday in Denver involves a case in 
which 20 people, many of them Cuban, were accused of buying 
properties in rural southern Colorado to illegally grow pot. The 
group would then drive or ship the marijuana to Florida, where it can 
sell for more than double what it fetches in a legal Colorado shop, 
according to court documents.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh has said the case illustrates the trend of 
illegal traffickers growing marijuana among the state's sanctioned 
pot warehouses and farms, then covertly shipping it elsewhere and 
pocketing millions of dollars from the sale. In many cases, drug 
dealers make no effort to comply with the state's marijuana laws.

The court filings offer a glimpse into how lucrative such an 
enterprise can be. When investigators raided the properties in 
September, they found $30,000 in cash, Rolex watches, 28 firearms, 50 
pounds of dried pot, more than 1,000 plants and hundreds of pieces of 
growing equipment.

None of the 14 people whose names were included in the forfeiture 
filings had employment histories in Colorado, and some of them had 
criminal backgrounds that included drug trafficking, according to the 
court filings.

The documents also highlight the complexity of such investigations. 
This probe took more than a year, with authorities relying on 
evidence that included electrical bills from the properties, because 
growing marijuana requires large amounts of electricity.

The accused drug dealers racked up massive electrical bills, 
especially compared with the properties' previous owners, the documents show.

When a fire erupted at one of the homes due to electrical problems in 
June, its residents wouldn't let law enforcement officers inside. 
Neighbors told police they had seen them loading marijuana into cars 
before firefighters arrived.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom