Usa: Armed Crop Robbers Get Caught And Plead Guilty. Options

[Yodel]

It's good to see some of these people go to jail. This is a real problem in NorCal. The growers were lucky these guys didn't wanna kill anyone. Typically they raid they house and kill EVERYONE then take the grow proceeds...Just another reason why Cannabis should be legal and not subject to this bullshit.


FEB 3 -- SACRAMENTO – United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams, announced today that ERIC KEITH SILLS, 38, of Oroville, California, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton today to one count of drug trafficking and one count of brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

This case is the product of a joint investigation by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Michael M. Beckwith, who is prosecuting the case, SILLS and three other men dressed up as law enforcement officers to rob a marijuana grow in Butte County. The men, armed with shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, detained a person guarding the grow at gunpoint. Law enforcement later executed a search warrant at SILLS’s house and found over 120 pounds of processed marijuana, a MAC-10 machine pistol, a .357 revolver, a loaded .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun, a Panther stun gun, police badges, gun cases, shirts with sheriff’s or police insignia, night vision goggles, two sets of handcuffs, and a radio on a tactical police sling.

SILLS is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Karlton on April 13, 2010, at 9:15 a.m. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine, and a term of supervised release from three years to life for the drug trafficking charge and life in prison (with a seven-year mandatory minimum sentence), a $250,000 fine, and a three-year term of supervised release for brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables and any applicable statutory sentencing factors.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/new...fran020310.html

This post has been edited by Yodel: Feb 8 2010, 06:34 PM

[Nude]

Thats Karma you slag.

[Yodel]

Yea I'm hoping they give the fucker life. -.-

[Dirty Harry]

Curious why they didn't also charge them with impersonating a law enforcement official, false arrest, and kidnapping.

[Yodel]

I was wondering the same thing. It's possible that local law officers will charge them with that...So that they can both get coverage + the guy does more time as a result of consecutive convictions.


This is off of the DEA's website.

Edit: OR they said, "We wont charge you with everything if you just point out the other farms you were thinking about taking or that you know about." The feds are still arresting people who are illegally growing here in cali. They just stick to big operations.

Edit #2: If you notice the 2nd charge carries a maximum of life as it's sentence. The feds have been known to use that charge since they can use it as leverage. They also don't shy away from giving you life for it as well. It's a really bad charge to get from the feds.

This post has been edited by Yodel: Feb 9 2010, 12:24 AM

[cooper84]

just replyed to another kinda topic i did not know about all this robbing people and taxing there crops, this seems very alike what the old poker players went through in the states years ago, armed robbers would hi-jack a card school and rob the poker players for the bankroll they had.as i said in the other post these sort of things seem to spread. and heres me just gonna start again after years away from growing.

[Dirty Harry]

I was wondering the same thing. It's possible that local law officers will charge them with that...So that they can both get coverage + the guy does more time as a result of consecutive convictions...

In my neck of the woods, kidnapping is a mandatory life sentence. I'm not sure if that is a state thing or federal thing. I would think federal as its a federal offense so kidnapping anywhere in the USA would equal mandatory life.