Hopkins County Residents Arrested And Charged In A Conspiracy To Sell “Spice”

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Acting United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. today announced the successful arrest of 13 Hopkins County, Kentucky residents charged with conspiring to distribute synthetic marijuana or “spice.”

Yesterday morning, agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Kentucky State Police (KSP) and Madisonville Police Department arrested the defendants who are all charged in a single count indictment that was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

According to the indictment, between October 2013, and June 2015, defendants Christopher Ray Barnes, Jessica L. Barnes, Joshua Elias Betar, Jason Matthew Demoss, Kara Ann Green, Nicholas Andrew Hollenbach, Matthew Robert Nash, Jeremy Jay Oglesby, Paula D. Oglesby, Megan Marie Tyson, Uriah Simpson, Roger Dal Thomas, and Jackie Wayne Vincent, Jr., all from Madisonville and surrounding communities, conspired to knowingly and intentionally distribute 100 kilograms or more of synthetic marijuana or “spice,” intended for human consumption.

Further, during the manufacture of “spice,” plant material is sprayed with a chemical compound AB-PINACA, a controlled substance analogue of ADB-PINACA, a Schedule I controlled substance, not legally sold in the United States. The chemical compound is manufactured in China and sold through mail order.

The defendants made their initial appearance before Magistrate Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl in Bowling Green, yesterday, and all but defendants Green, Tyson, Simpson and Jessica Barnes were ordered to remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals service pending arraignments and detention hearings to held Monday, June 29, 2015 in Owensboro. Defendant Jason Demoss is in state custody.

If convicted at trial, the defendants could be sentenced to no less than 5 years and no more than 40 years in prison, fined $5,000,000 and serve a four year period of supervised release.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Larry Fentress and is being investigated by DEA, KSP and the Madisonville Police Department.

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The indictment of a person by a Grand Jury is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.