EUGENE, Ore. – John Lee Nelson, Jr., 53, and a resident of Myrtle Creek, Douglas County, Oregon, appeared in United States District Court and pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Sentencing is set for January 19, 2010 before United States District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan.
Possession with intent to distribute less than 100 marijuana plants or 100 kilograms of a mixture containing marijuana is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release following imprisonment.
In a related count of the indictment, Nelson was charged with agreeing to sell someone 50 pounds of marijuana for $125,000. In another related count, Nelson was charged with unlawfully possessing three firearms after a 1992 conviction for manufacturing a controlled substance. The government agreed to dismiss both counts at sentencing in exchange for Nelson’s guilty plea to the remaining count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Because Nelson possessed firearms in connection with the attempted sale of marijuana for profit, his case fell outside the recently-announced Obama administration policy discouraging the expenditure of federal investigative and prosecutorial resources on persons whose actions are in compliance with state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana. Oregon has a medical marijuana law, but even under that law, marijuana may not be sold for profit. Under his plea agreement, Nelson must abandon his firearms and withdraw his claims to real estate in a parallel federal civil forfeiture action.
Today’s guilty plea was the result of an investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Douglas County Interagency Narcotics Team. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bud Fitzgerald.
