Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Potential criminals, take note: Marijuana growers may seem like soft targets, but hard time awaits those who rob them in Lane County.
This month alone, Lane County Circuit Court judges have sentenced six men to a collective 62 years in prison for armed robberies of area medical marijuana growers.
Local law enforcement officials say the spate of convictions doesn’t constitute a pattern, noting that all those convictions arose from just two home invasion robberies this fall.
But prosecutors and even some judges say the prison terms send a message that criminals cannot rob marijuana growers with impunity.
Circuit Judge Mary Ann Bearden made that clear this month when she sentenced 45-year-old David Bryan New to 15 years in prison for robbing the Oakridge home of a state-registered medical marijuana grower.
His Eugene nephew, Wayne Thomas New, 41, and fellow Californian Byron Leroy Loftis, 50, also were convicted of first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping in the October incident. They received respective sentences of 15 and 17 years.
David New told Bearden he used only a “toy gun” to intimidate three occupants of the home, who were tied up with their heads covered as the robbers stole medical marijuana, guns, a safe and luggage. His attorney alleged that the victims had been growing more pot than state law allows, and that the incident was a dispute among illicit drug dealers.
Bearden rejected that line of defense as irrelevant and “blaming the victims,” however. She said the News and Loftis had no right to be in the home, and that they “terrorized” the people inside it.
“You knew it was a phony gun, but they didn’t,” the judge told David New, before apologizing to his victims. “I can only imagine in my worst nightmares being tied up in my own home and having my face obscured by people with weapons. I would be terrified that the next thing that would happen is I would be executed.”
One of the victims, a woman, told Bearden she has had trouble sleeping ever since the robbery.
In the other incident, a Springfield medical marijuana grower told Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché that his children continue to struggle with the memory of masked men entering their home with a rifle and a knife in a November robbery attempt.
In that case, Conner Scott Olmstead-Black, 16; Wilbert Billy Butler, 20; and Jarell Dehoe Manlove, 20, initially faced attempted murder charges. The reduced charges included armed robbery, and each ultimately was sentenced to between five and six years in prison.
One of the men reportedly tried to fire the rifle at the marijuana grower, but the weapon malfunctioned. Police said the size of the victim’s marijuana crop was within the state’s legal limits.
“I have a good family and a simple home — we’re law-abiding citizens,” the grower told the judge. “Somebody came in and disrupted it in a violent way for nothing. There was nothing to steal! I only grow for two patients, and they tried to kill me over that.”
The family’s dogs scared off the intruders before they could steal any pot.
Lane County Sheriff Russ Burger called the targeting of medical marijuana growers an “unintended consequence” of the state’s medical marijuana law.
Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner said his office doesn’t track such cases separately, but that medical marijuana growers may appear to be juicy targets because “drug dealer rip-offs” of illicit growers often go unreported “for obvious reasons.”
“People who transact in recreational drugs present an attractive target for criminals, because the criminals expect to find cash or dope they can easily convert to cash, and they assume there won’t be any police involvement,” he said.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: registerguard.com
Author: Karen McCowan
Copyright: 2010 The Register-Guard
Contact: feedback@registerguard.com
Website: Medical marijuana robberies bring stiff sentences | Convictions of six men in two recent Lane County cases carry a collective total of 62 years in prison
This month alone, Lane County Circuit Court judges have sentenced six men to a collective 62 years in prison for armed robberies of area medical marijuana growers.
Local law enforcement officials say the spate of convictions doesn’t constitute a pattern, noting that all those convictions arose from just two home invasion robberies this fall.
But prosecutors and even some judges say the prison terms send a message that criminals cannot rob marijuana growers with impunity.
Circuit Judge Mary Ann Bearden made that clear this month when she sentenced 45-year-old David Bryan New to 15 years in prison for robbing the Oakridge home of a state-registered medical marijuana grower.
His Eugene nephew, Wayne Thomas New, 41, and fellow Californian Byron Leroy Loftis, 50, also were convicted of first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping in the October incident. They received respective sentences of 15 and 17 years.
David New told Bearden he used only a “toy gun” to intimidate three occupants of the home, who were tied up with their heads covered as the robbers stole medical marijuana, guns, a safe and luggage. His attorney alleged that the victims had been growing more pot than state law allows, and that the incident was a dispute among illicit drug dealers.
Bearden rejected that line of defense as irrelevant and “blaming the victims,” however. She said the News and Loftis had no right to be in the home, and that they “terrorized” the people inside it.
“You knew it was a phony gun, but they didn’t,” the judge told David New, before apologizing to his victims. “I can only imagine in my worst nightmares being tied up in my own home and having my face obscured by people with weapons. I would be terrified that the next thing that would happen is I would be executed.”
One of the victims, a woman, told Bearden she has had trouble sleeping ever since the robbery.
In the other incident, a Springfield medical marijuana grower told Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché that his children continue to struggle with the memory of masked men entering their home with a rifle and a knife in a November robbery attempt.
In that case, Conner Scott Olmstead-Black, 16; Wilbert Billy Butler, 20; and Jarell Dehoe Manlove, 20, initially faced attempted murder charges. The reduced charges included armed robbery, and each ultimately was sentenced to between five and six years in prison.
One of the men reportedly tried to fire the rifle at the marijuana grower, but the weapon malfunctioned. Police said the size of the victim’s marijuana crop was within the state’s legal limits.
“I have a good family and a simple home — we’re law-abiding citizens,” the grower told the judge. “Somebody came in and disrupted it in a violent way for nothing. There was nothing to steal! I only grow for two patients, and they tried to kill me over that.”
The family’s dogs scared off the intruders before they could steal any pot.
Lane County Sheriff Russ Burger called the targeting of medical marijuana growers an “unintended consequence” of the state’s medical marijuana law.
Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner said his office doesn’t track such cases separately, but that medical marijuana growers may appear to be juicy targets because “drug dealer rip-offs” of illicit growers often go unreported “for obvious reasons.”
“People who transact in recreational drugs present an attractive target for criminals, because the criminals expect to find cash or dope they can easily convert to cash, and they assume there won’t be any police involvement,” he said.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: registerguard.com
Author: Karen McCowan
Copyright: 2010 The Register-Guard
Contact: feedback@registerguard.com
Website: Medical marijuana robberies bring stiff sentences | Convictions of six men in two recent Lane County cases carry a collective total of 62 years in prison
