He picked up pot in a fake Amazon van. Now he's going to jail

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

12 4 minutes read

The discovery of the fake Amazon van began thanks to anonymous tips.

The van had been used for months to pick up black market marijuana from Oklahoma crops, a later investigation revealed. The pot would be shipped east in tractor-trailers, ending up mostly in New York.

The tips were about a hideout in Oklahoma City. They were sent to Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers twice in January 2022.

That sparked the investigation and led to the identification of other hiding places, according to court records. These places were placed under surveillance.

In December 2022, investigators on a mission to one location noticed the arrival of what appeared to be an Amazon van. It later turned out to be a fake.

“We observed a fake Amazon truck in the garage of this hideout,” FBI task force officer Chad Vontungeln recalled at a federal trial in January. “The driver got out. The garage door to the hideout opened. They opened the rear doors of the fake Amazon truck. Individuals came out of the house, grabbed several full black trash bags from the back of the truck Amazon and took it from the garage.”

The officer then placed a tracker on the van. The driver, Brandon Ye, was allegedly arrested at his Oklahoma City warehouse on March 31, 2023, where a tractor-trailer was waiting to be loaded with 2,700 pounds of marijuana.

You were wearing an Amazon jacket.

On Thursday, Ye was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for his role in the black market distribution network.

He said during his sentencing in Oklahoma City federal court that he had been selfish, that he was sorry and ashamed. “I understand that I must accept the consequences of my actions,” he said.

Ye, 43, pleaded guilty in September to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

U.S. District Judge Scott Palk chose the punishment, giving him credit for his cooperation with prosecutors. The judge acknowledged that Ye had been brazen in his operation.

The fake Amazon van and a 2022 quadruple homicide at a nearby plantation west of Hennessey have become symbols for an era of how the legalization of medical marijuana transformed Oklahoma into the “Wild West of Weed “.

How big is the black market for marijuana in Oklahoma?

In a sentencing memo, a federal prosecutor told the judge that the street value of black market marijuana generated each year in Oklahoma exceeds $30 billion.

You alone may have shipped more than 28 tons of marijuana in less than a year, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wilson McGarry told the judge in the memo.

The estimated street value of this quantity of marijuana is $140 million, according to his memo.

You owned Arch Granite & Cabinetry, a kitchen countertop company in Oklahoma City. It would ship marijuana from the company's warehouse on Fridays starting in June 2022.

He first used an Arch Granite van to pick up marijuana, but then switched to the fake Amazon van, prosecutors said. He purchased marijuana from Oklahoma grows in Oakland, Wetumka, Rush Springs, Oilton, Fort Gibson, Watonga, Elk City, Hydro, Foster, Alex, Barnsdall, Okemah, Cashion, Sayre, Henryetta and Paden.

The investigation identified Ye's suppliers using the tracker placed on the fake Amazon van. The searches led to other criminal cases. The Oakland grow owner was sentenced Thursday to six years in federal prison.

In January, Ye testified for the prosecution in the trial of Wetumka's cultural director and a management intern. He said he started using the fake van in March 2022 and hired people to put the Amazon logo on it.

“Why did you disguise this van to look like an Amazon delivery van?” » asked the prosecutor.

“Because my boss told me a vehicle like this would be safer,” he responded through a translator.

He went to the plantations four to five times a week, according to his testimony. He was paid an average of $15 per pound for pickup trucks. He identified his boss only as “Hui.”

He confirmed that he had purchased pot from as many as 20 crops. “They are all operated by Chinese nationals,” he said.

Ye lost his Oklahoma City home, as well as his gun, the fake pickup truck and three other vehicles because of his guilty plea. He also lost $98,901 to the government.

His business is permanently closed.

He came to the United States from a poor village in China 24 years ago and was a legitimate businessman, defense attorney Paul Faulk told the judge Thursday.

In a sentencing memo, the defense attorney told the judge that Ye had lost everything.

“Mr. Ye committed these acts based on a reckless and regrettable impulse following an invitation to earn some extra money. He was essentially a glorified delivery boy for senior officials of the pharmaceutical organization and received modest compensation for his role in the operation,” Faulk wrote.

In a court filing, prosecutors called his cooperation substantial, but also complained that he had been evasive and likely untruthful at times. They stopped using him as a witness because of his credibility issues.

“Copycats” appeared

Prosecutors also deplored the emergence of “copy cats” due to its illegal operations.

A traffic stop of a fake Amazon van in Missouri in January led to a raid on a marijuana grow operation in Lindsay, Oklahoma, in April.

The van was stopped for traffic violations, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control reported in a news release in April.

A search of the van uncovered 246 pounds of packaged marijuana that had recently been recovered from the scene in Lindsay, office spokesman Mark Woodward said.

An investigation revealed that Bright Stones LLC had obtained its license through fraud, using a “straw ownership” system, he said.

How big is the black market for marijuana in Oklahoma?

“Copycats” appeared

Lina Portman

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