This week Oklahoma officials announced charges against two attorneys they say facilitated illegal medical marijuana operations.
“Oklahomans will not tolerate lawlessness or illegal marijuana grow operations,” Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said.
O’Connor said during a news conference Thursday that a monthlong Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics investigation showed that Logan Jones and Eric Brown directed medical marijuana businesses to sign consulting agreements that would make employees ghost owners of medical marijuana operations.
Per Oklahoma law, an entity must be at least 75% owned by an Oklahoma resident to obtain an Oklahoma license.
According an affidavit, a client would sign an agreement to pay $3,000 per license for the law firm to provide a consultant to serve as an Oklahoma resident so the client could obtain their medical marijuana license.
The investigation also discovered that more than 400 marijuana grows in Oklahoma listed Jones Brown Law Firm employees as the 75% owners.
The affidavit also says the attorneys provided false information to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
O’Connor announced other charges against Jones and Brown including one count of conspiracy to cultivate a controlled dangerous substance, six counts of offering false or forged instruments of recordation, three counts of cultivation of a CDS, and one count of a pattern of a criminal offense. “These charges brought today should send a loud and clear message to anyone engaging in criminal operations in Oklahoma that we will find out and we will prosecute you,” O’Connor said. “My office is committed to eradicating these illegal operators, and we will continue to hold those facilitating illegal marijuana operations accountable.”
During the investigation, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics agents searched several Oklahoma locations, including in Garvin, Major and Mayes counties. They seized more than 20,000 marijuana plants during three search warrants.