June 01, 2009

GARBERVILLE RESIDENTS PLEAD GUILTY IN MARIJUANA CULTIVATING OPERATION

Forfeited four pieces of real property and $945,000 Promissory Note
SAN FRANCISCO – Jordan Pyhtila and Jessie Jeffries pleaded guilty yesterday to maintaining a place to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to launder money, announced United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello.

In pleading guilty, Pyhtila and Jeffries admitted that they purchased and maintained property located in Humboldt County for the purpose of cultivating marijuana. Approximately 4,677 marijuana plants, amounting to approximately 467 kilograms of marijuana, were grown on this property.

According to the plea agreements, from 1999 through September 2008, Pyhtila and Jeffries also purchased or maintained pieces of property for the purpose of allowing others to manufacture marijuana. The defendants purchased real estate on which marijuana was cultivated, and financed real estate purchases by others who intended to use the land to cultivate marijuana. Pyhtila and Jeffries also financed many of the marijuana growing operations by providing funding for equipment, building materials, marijuana clones, fertilizer, wages for laborers and other expenses. The defendants received a portion of the profits from the sale of marijuana grown on these properties.

The plea agreements also state that, from 1999 through September 2008, Pyhtila and Jeffries agreed to use the net profits from marijuana cultivation to fund the operations of their business, J&J Earthmoving, and to purchase numerous properties throughout Northern California. The purchases of the properties were made to conceal the net profits earned from financing the cultivation of marijuana. Nominee owners were used to hide the true ownership interest in these properties.

As part of their plea agreements, Pyhtila and Jeffries agreed to forfeit interest in four pieces of real property located in Garberville, Calif.; Miranda, Calif.; Blocksburg, Calif.; and Eureka, Calif. In addition, they agreed to forfeit their interest in a promissory note, in the amount of $945,000, that was obtained from the sale of a subdivision that the two were developing in Rio Dell, Calif.

Pyhtila, 29, of Rio Dell, and Jeffries, 27, of Garberville, were charged on March 18, each with one count of maintaining a place to manufacture marijuana in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. § 856(a)(2) and one count of conspiracy to launder money in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). They each pleaded guilty to both counts.

Sentencing for the defendants is scheduled for Sept. 9, before Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton in San Francisco. As part of the plea agreement, the United States and Pyhtila and Jeffries agreed that a reasonable sentence is 72 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Assistant United States Attorney Kirstin Ault, is the attorney prosecuting the case, with the assistance of legal technician Sheryl Castillo. The prosecution is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and Drug Task Force.

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For more information on federal criminal defense law, contact the Law Offices of Joseph Shemaria of Los Angeles, California.