Toledo Man Named in 15-Count Indictment Charging Possession of More Than 150 Pounds of Marijuana
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 10, 2013 |
A 15-count indictment was filed charging Stanley L. Haythorne, age 37, of Toledo, Ohio, with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Haythorne is accused of conspiring with others to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana between 2004 and the present, according to the indictment.
On June 18, 2010, Haythorne possessed more than 150 pounds (71 kilograms) of marijuana, according to the indictment.
In a five-month period in 2008, Haythorne engaged in a series of financial transactions involving approximately $250,000 that were designed to avoid financial reporting requirements (structuring), according to the indictment.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to each case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
The case was accepted and investigated as an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. The OCDETF program divides the country into 13 regions and is designed to insure that the most sophisticated investigative and prosecutive resources are directed against large scale organized drug trafficking ventures.
The indictment culminates a three-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas P. Weldon.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.