Colorado announces largest pot bust since drug was legalized
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DENVER (AP) — Colorado officials announced Wednesday that they have busted a mammoth marijuana trafficking ring that pretended to be growing weed for sick people but was instead illegally shipping the drug to a half-dozen other states and bilking investors, including former NFL players.
A Denver grand jury indicted 62 people and 12 businesses in a case that involved federal and state agents executing nearly 150 search warrants in 33 homes and 18 warehouses and storage units in the Denver area.
The indictment was returned June 9 and announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman.
“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 indictment targets the largest illegal marijuana operation since Colorado legalized recreational pot in 2012, Coffman said.
The grand jury indictment says the enterprise produced more than 100 pounds a month of illegal pot for shipment to Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and other states that weren’t listed. The ring operated from 2012 until 2016 and raked in an estimated $200,000 a month, Coffman said.
The defendants are charged with 31 felony counts, and most are now under arrest awaiting trial dates in Denver District Court. Charges include money-laundering and other financial crimes.
Prosecutors say that one of the conspirators, Connor Brooks, duped friends, including two former National Football League players, into investing in his illegal scheme.
Brooks allegedly got money from Erik Pears, an undrafted free agent most recently with the San Francisco 49ers, and Joel Dreessen, a former Denver Broncos tight end, the indictment says.
Neither football player is accused of a crime.
