Oklahoma Illegal Marijuana Business Owners Convicted by the Court
Hennessey, Oklahoma: The court indicted three men in a medical marijuana business conspiracy that happened in Oklahoma. The farm was the scene of a quadruple murder on November 20, 2022.
The case is also linked to a suspected former employee who allegedly shot 4 people to death. He also injured a fifth person as well. The suspect shot them over an argument over a $300,000 investment.
The convicted men paid another man, Richard Gregorio Ignacio, to act as a “straw owner” of the cannabis farm they opened for medical purposes. They opened the farm in Kingfisher County in Oklahoma. The farm had multiple locations throughout the state.
It is illegal for non-residents to hold an Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority license or to register with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBN). The actual owners of the farm were Kevin Paul Pham, 47, and Alex Shiang Lin Chang, 48. They are not Oklahoma residents.
This information is provided by the Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in a press release.
Pham, Chang, and Ignacio face accusations of engaging in a pattern of criminal activity and conspiring against the state. Prosecutors said that Pham and Ignacio are accused of six counts of filing false or forged documents and one count of aggravated manufacturing of a controlled dangerous substance. The controlled substance they produced was marijuana.
Pham is also charged with one count of possessing marijuana with the intent of distributing, and one count of trafficking in controlled dangerous substances exceeding 20 grams of methamphetamine.
He is also charged with one count of financial transactions involving the proceeds of illegal activity, and one count of possessing a firearm following a prior felony conviction.
The farm on which they ran this illegal business is located near Hennessey, Oklahoma. This is a 10-acre marijuana farm under the business name of Liu & Chen Farm.
These 3 men are not charged with the quadruple murder that happened on November 20, 2022. Prosecutors claimed that Wu Chen, 45, a former employee of the location, executed four people because he was demanding the return of his $300,000 investment in the operation.
Chinese nationals Quirong Lin, Chen He Chun, Chen He Qiang, and Fang Hui Lee were slain in the attack, according to the authorities. Yi Fei Lin is the fifth man who sustained injuries.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said, “We cannot and will not tolerate these illegal enterprises enriching themselves at the expense of rural Oklahoma. While there are many law-abiding participants in the state’s medical marijuana industry, law enforcement has seen an influx of others who are using the situation to supply black-market marijuana throughout the country.”
