FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
February 18, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:11-CR-0052 LJO

FRESNO – United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that a four-count indictment was unsealed today charging Timothy Duane, 30, Lorena Duane, 26, Bounsou Voarsane, 50, and Kay Viengkham, 53, with cultivating marijuana in Fresno County, and conspiring to transport it to Texas for sale.

                        This case is the product of an extensive joint investigation by the Fresno Sheriff’s Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.  Assistant United States Attorney Yasin Mohammad is prosecuting the case.

            Defendants Lorena Duane and Kay Viengkham were arrested this week in Texas, and defendant Timothy Duane, a former Madera County Probation Officer, surrendered in Texas.  Defendant Viengkham was arrested in California.  Timothy Duane is scheduled for a hearing before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of Texas on February 22, 2011.  The other three defendants are scheduled to appear before District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill in Fresno on February 25, 2011.
    
            If convicted of the drug charges, the four defendants each face a mandatory minimum prison term of 5 years and a maximum term of 40 years, along with a $2 million fine.  The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

            The charges are only allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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