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hxxp://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/jun/24/pot-bust-yields-more-600-plants-near-manley/
Pot bust yields more than 600 plants near Manley
Published Wednesday, June 24, 2009
FAIRBANKS — Authorities have broken up what prosecutors called a $2 million per year marijuana business.
John Tobe Larson, 49, of Alaska, and Brandon Phillips, 33, of Texas, have each been charged with two counts of felony drugs misconduct in connection with growing marijuana at the Eureka Gold Mine.
The Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement contacted the men Tuesday in Manley, near Mile 139 Elliott Highway after investigating the operation.
Investigators seized 636 mature marijuana plants and 50 pounds of processed marijuana. The total weight of all the seized marijuana, if processed, is estimated to be 200 pounds. Lights, generators and other growing equipment were taken.
Phillips is reportedly cooperating with investigators. He told them that a friend introduced him to Larson because Larson grew pot in the area for 20 years and would pay Phillips $500 per day to harvest it, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
The marijuana would then be put in duffle bags and flown out on Larson’s Cessna 170B. The operation processed 10 pounds of marijuana per week and sold for $4,000 per pound, according to the complaint.
A calendar with details of how much marijuana was harvested each week was found at the scene.
At his arraignment Wednesday, Phillips said he had only been in Alaska a couple months.
“I just really want to go home,” he said. “I don’t know what else to do. I’ve cooperated with investigators.”
Bail for both men was initially set at $2,500, though Phillips’ bail was raised to $7,500 after the presiding magistrate heard more about the extent of the alleged operation. Prosecutors were looking to raise Larson’s bail late Wednesday afternoon after he posted $2,500.
then...
More charges filed in Manley pot bust
Details emerge about secret growing room
Published Friday, June 26, 2009
FAIRBANKS — The mining claim near Manley where more than 600 marijuana plants were found earlier this week was a ruse to cover the illicit drug operation there, according to newly filed documents.
The second criminal complaint filed Thursday against John T. Larson, 49, of Fairbanks, also details the elaborate lengths he allegedly went to hide the marijuana grow, which might have been operational for as long as 20 years. Prosecutors said the operation was worth $2 million per year.
Larson, already charged with two counts of felony drugs misconduct, has been charged with two more felony counts of marijuana possession, felony assault and interfering with official proceedings.
No additional charges have been filed against alleged co-conspirator Brandon Phillips, 33, of Texas.
The Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement was told last week about the Eureka Gold Mine operation, where an estimated 200 pounds of marijuana was seized, by a man who worked Larson’s mining claim until several weeks ago.
The former employee, who was not identified in court documents, told investigators that he had a falling out with Larson in April after he took offense to comments that Larson made about his children.
He quit the next month, but Larson invited him to the claim two days later to make amends. There, the former employee was taken to a diesel generator shed where Larson pushed in the rear concrete wall and showed him a larger room with a bigger generator and hundreds of marijuana plants.
The wall had no seams in it and was “very well disguised,” according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
The room contained two carved out culverts about 20 by 30 feet in size that contained “football stadium lights” and marijuana in various stages of growth. The man was re-introduced to Phillips, whom he apparently thought worked at the mining claim.
“Now you know what I do for 10 hours every day,” Phillips is quoted as saying in the complaint.
Phillips was allegedly paid $500 per day to harvest marijuana, which would sell for $4,000 per pound on the street.
The room had an “elaborate filtering” system that would remove the odor of marijuana from the room but keep the heat of the lights in the room from melting the snow outside, according to the complaint.
Larson told the former employee that the room was the “real mine” and offered him a job harvesting marijuana for $1,000 per day, according to the complaint.
The man turned him down, at which point Larson allegedly told him that he had never had his offer rejected before and he had “killed people for less.” He also claimed to have taken down a suspicious Black Hawk helicopter that flew over the grow and asked the man if he knew “how many ways a miner can get rid of a body?” according to the complaint.
The man left the property, and alerted authorities several weeks later.
Evidence at the scene indicates that the operation processed 10 pounds of marijuana per week, which was loaded into duffle bags and possibly flown to Fairbanks on Larson’s Cessna 170B.
When in custody, Larson told investigators that other miners at the claim knew nothing about the marijuana grow and to “treat those people nice,” according to the complaint.
Neither Larson nor Phillips has any prior criminal history.
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hxxp://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/jun/24/pot-bust-yields-more-600-plants-near-manley/
Pot bust yields more than 600 plants near Manley
Published Wednesday, June 24, 2009
FAIRBANKS — Authorities have broken up what prosecutors called a $2 million per year marijuana business.
John Tobe Larson, 49, of Alaska, and Brandon Phillips, 33, of Texas, have each been charged with two counts of felony drugs misconduct in connection with growing marijuana at the Eureka Gold Mine.
The Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement contacted the men Tuesday in Manley, near Mile 139 Elliott Highway after investigating the operation.
Investigators seized 636 mature marijuana plants and 50 pounds of processed marijuana. The total weight of all the seized marijuana, if processed, is estimated to be 200 pounds. Lights, generators and other growing equipment were taken.
Phillips is reportedly cooperating with investigators. He told them that a friend introduced him to Larson because Larson grew pot in the area for 20 years and would pay Phillips $500 per day to harvest it, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
The marijuana would then be put in duffle bags and flown out on Larson’s Cessna 170B. The operation processed 10 pounds of marijuana per week and sold for $4,000 per pound, according to the complaint.
A calendar with details of how much marijuana was harvested each week was found at the scene.
At his arraignment Wednesday, Phillips said he had only been in Alaska a couple months.
“I just really want to go home,” he said. “I don’t know what else to do. I’ve cooperated with investigators.”
Bail for both men was initially set at $2,500, though Phillips’ bail was raised to $7,500 after the presiding magistrate heard more about the extent of the alleged operation. Prosecutors were looking to raise Larson’s bail late Wednesday afternoon after he posted $2,500.
then...
More charges filed in Manley pot bust
Details emerge about secret growing room
Published Friday, June 26, 2009
FAIRBANKS — The mining claim near Manley where more than 600 marijuana plants were found earlier this week was a ruse to cover the illicit drug operation there, according to newly filed documents.
The second criminal complaint filed Thursday against John T. Larson, 49, of Fairbanks, also details the elaborate lengths he allegedly went to hide the marijuana grow, which might have been operational for as long as 20 years. Prosecutors said the operation was worth $2 million per year.
Larson, already charged with two counts of felony drugs misconduct, has been charged with two more felony counts of marijuana possession, felony assault and interfering with official proceedings.
No additional charges have been filed against alleged co-conspirator Brandon Phillips, 33, of Texas.
The Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement was told last week about the Eureka Gold Mine operation, where an estimated 200 pounds of marijuana was seized, by a man who worked Larson’s mining claim until several weeks ago.
The former employee, who was not identified in court documents, told investigators that he had a falling out with Larson in April after he took offense to comments that Larson made about his children.
He quit the next month, but Larson invited him to the claim two days later to make amends. There, the former employee was taken to a diesel generator shed where Larson pushed in the rear concrete wall and showed him a larger room with a bigger generator and hundreds of marijuana plants.
The wall had no seams in it and was “very well disguised,” according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
The room contained two carved out culverts about 20 by 30 feet in size that contained “football stadium lights” and marijuana in various stages of growth. The man was re-introduced to Phillips, whom he apparently thought worked at the mining claim.
“Now you know what I do for 10 hours every day,” Phillips is quoted as saying in the complaint.
Phillips was allegedly paid $500 per day to harvest marijuana, which would sell for $4,000 per pound on the street.
The room had an “elaborate filtering” system that would remove the odor of marijuana from the room but keep the heat of the lights in the room from melting the snow outside, according to the complaint.
Larson told the former employee that the room was the “real mine” and offered him a job harvesting marijuana for $1,000 per day, according to the complaint.
The man turned him down, at which point Larson allegedly told him that he had never had his offer rejected before and he had “killed people for less.” He also claimed to have taken down a suspicious Black Hawk helicopter that flew over the grow and asked the man if he knew “how many ways a miner can get rid of a body?” according to the complaint.
The man left the property, and alerted authorities several weeks later.
Evidence at the scene indicates that the operation processed 10 pounds of marijuana per week, which was loaded into duffle bags and possibly flown to Fairbanks on Larson’s Cessna 170B.
When in custody, Larson told investigators that other miners at the claim knew nothing about the marijuana grow and to “treat those people nice,” according to the complaint.
Neither Larson nor Phillips has any prior criminal history.
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hxxp://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/jun/24/pot-bust-yields-more-600-plants-near-manley/
