News Release [print friendly page]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2008
Contact: Jodie Underwood
Number: (206) 553-1162

Fairfield Money Launderer, Drug Trafficker Pleads Guilty

AUG 5 -- (BOISE, ID) – DEA Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Arnold R. Moorin and the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho, Thomas E. Moss, announced that Ian Ireland plead guilty on July 22, 2008 in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to launder money. Ireland faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the drug count and maximum penalty of 20 years on the money laundering count.

According to court documents, Ireland admitted to manufacturing and distributing marijuana and distributing cocaine over a ten-year period. Money obtained from his drug trafficking activities was illegally invested in real estate in Idaho, California, and elsewhere. Ireland also admitted to using drug proceeds to purchase other assets, including equipment and inventory for his woodworking and pottery businesses in Fairfield, Idaho, through which he commingled drug proceeds with legitimate funds.

Additionally, Ireland admitted to smuggling marijuana and cocaine across the Canadian border into the United States. Over the years, Ireland was involved in growing marijuana, including a marijuana grow that was seized by law enforcement in December 2003 in Buhl, Idaho. Ireland is set for sentencing on January 20, 2009, before U.S District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise, Idaho.

The four investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Gooding County Sheriff’s Office and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations.