Jeff Weng and Tong Lin Each Sentenced to 10 Years for Trafficking More Than 56,000 Pounds of Black-Market Marijuana
On December 19, 2024, U.S. District Judge Scott L. Palk in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, sentenced Jeff Weng, a citizen of China, to 120 months (10 years) in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Weng, 47, of China and Brooklyn, New York, was found to have managed a marijuana grow operation in Wetumka, Hughes County, Oklahoma. His co-defendant Tong Lin, 29, had been sentenced on June 17, 2024, to the same 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced the sentence.
According to the Department of Justice, a federal grand jury charged Weng and Lin on June 6, 2023, with conspiracy to possess marijuana plants with intent to distribute. On January 18, 2024, after a two-day trial, a federal jury deliberated about an hour before finding both guilty of drug conspiracy.
Evidence at trial showed that between December 2022 and May 2023 Weng managed the Wetumka grow, which was licensed by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, and that Lin managed matters when Weng was not present. A witness testified that the conspirators drove delivery vans disguised as commercial vehicles, including one disguised as an "Amazon" delivery van, to the grow 10 to 15 times between December 2022 and March 31, 2023, picking up between 150 and 200 pounds of marijuana each time and transporting it to a stash house in Oklahoma City. Every Friday, the witness moved the marijuana from the stash house to a warehouse, where more than 2,000 pounds at a time were loaded into a semi-truck trailer bound for the East Coast. Over approximately seven months, upwards of 56,000 pounds of marijuana were shipped out of Oklahoma by semi-truck.
In May 2023, law enforcement searched the Wetumka grow and found 19,661 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, more than $100,000 in vacuum-sealed cash hidden in the attic space of Weng's closet, and a firearm.
In announcing the sentence, Judge Palk noted the role Weng played in a "significant" illegal marijuana operation and the need for deterrence. The case was investigated by the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office with assistance from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wilson D. McGarry and David Nichols, Jr. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Oklahoma City 的 William J. Holloway Jr. 联邦法院大楼，本案在此审理宣判。G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The William J. Holloway Jr. United States Courthouse in Oklahoma City, where this case was tried and sentenced. By G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
