fbi_logo_twitter.jpg

If pot in Cleveland seems unusually scarce, now you know why: nearly a ton of marijuana on its way to the city was seized at Mexican border.

Canton-area residents Ray Sanchez, 46, and Andy Fagan, 29, were arrested in the plot and charged with conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute. The feds say the two arranged to have the weed shipped to Cleveland in a semi. Per the Canton Repository:

Through a confidential source and an undercover officer, authorities said they learned from Sanchez the marijuana would be hidden inside recycling equipment. On Aug. 2, the FBI said it intercepted a Federal Express package containing $20,000 in cash destined for Sanchez’s contact in Texas. Fagan was listed as sender of the package, according to court papers.
The shipment was to arrive in Cleveland on Aug. 15, but Homeland Security agents intercepted the marijuana at the border crossing in Loredo, Texas. The marijuana was hidden in recycling equipment addressed to Fagan, according to court papers.

Check out cantonrep.com for the details.

This article appears in Aug 14-20, 2013.

Doug Brown is a staff writer at Scene with a passion for public records laws and investigative reporting. A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., he has an M.A. in journalism from the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a B.A. in political science from Hiram College. Prior to joining Scene, Doug was a contributing writer for Deadspin.com, reporting behind-the-scenes stories about college sports through public records and developing sources. Doug's work as an enterprise reporter for the Daily Kent Stater was recognized by the Cleveland Press Club (2013 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards), Society of Professional Journalists (regional and national Mark of Excellence Awards), and the Associated Collegiate Press. He spent the summer of 2012 working for the Metro desk of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and spent previous summers working for Outside Bozeman Magazine and Crain's Detroit Business. His website is dougbrown8.com.

2 replies on “Feds seize nearly a ton of weed headed to Cleveland”

  2. And yet not one second of disruption, in supply or demand.

    It disgusts me we pay billions every year, so these ‘plant police’ can go play cops and robbers over something as silly as marijuana. The evil genius who decided we needed to drive the country broke over such foolishness (1.5 Trillion ‘accounted for’ spent since 1972) and in the meantime it get’s easier to get, less expensive, better quality, and millions of old folks now prefer to use it instead of toxic pharmaceuticals.

    Time for this nation to do some SERIOUS growing up, admittance and maybe even an apology or two, and quit spending our time and money on a plant that has been around since the beginning of time, has caused ZERO deaths in all of it’s thousands of years of recorded history, and saved the US in two major world wars (in the second WW we had not only destroyed our hemp production, but destroyed all the seeds in all our wisdom. When Japan took over the Philippines, the State Dept said unless we rebuilt the American hemp industry in 6 months, we would lose the war. It was considered 2nd of the TOP THREE resources we HAD to secure if we were to be victorious. We had to scramble to our allies and only had enough seed for 350k bushels that first year, but by the next we were up to several million bushels, because hemp grows that quick and is that forgiving. If that wasn’t a sign from God about how ridiculous we had been over this plant, I don’t know what was).)

    ______

    Texas (for example) spends 250 million at the STATE level (not including exponentially more federal dollars) every year playing ‘plant police’. Isn’t it time to stop the nonsense?

Comments are closed.