Oregon Man Sentenced in NYC Pot Empire Bust

John G. Koukouras, 40, of Eugene, Oregon, is headed to federal prison for two years after admitting his role in a sprawling marijuana trafficking operation rooted in New York and stretching to Connecticut. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton handed down the 24-month sentence in New Haven, followed by three years of supervised release, and slapped Koukouras with a $4,000 fine.

Court records reveal Koukouras teamed up with William Reyes, of Stamford, Connecticut, in the summer of 2017 to run a high-output grow operation from a house at 40 Guernsey Hill Road in Lagrangeville, New York. Inside, investigators found approximately 140 marijuana plants and industrial-grade equipment used to cultivate and process the drug for distribution. The Lagrangeville house was a fully operational narcotics hub—wired for yield, designed for profit.

The operation began to unravel on July 26, 2017, when federal agents executed a search warrant and seized the entire grow setup. But the crackdown didn’t stop there. On September 14, 2017, law enforcement raided 720 Brookside Drive in Eugene—the home of Koukouras—where they seized another 50 marijuana plants and more processing gear, proving the operation was both mobile and methodical.

The probe exposed a larger network. Gustavo Garcia, of Queens, New York, was funneling massive quantities of marijuana to Reyes. In one recorded exchange, Garcia delivered 40 pounds of marijuana in July 2017 in return for $80,000 in cash. That kind of weight and cashflow marks this not as casual dealing, but as organized drug trafficking on a commercial scale.

Koukouras pleaded guilty on November 15, 2017, to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Judge Arterton ordered him to report to prison on March 13, 2018. He remains free on a $25,000 bond until that date—time he’s likely spending counting down the days behind bars. Both Reyes and Garcia have also pleaded guilty to related charges and await their own sentencing dates.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Stamford Police Department, and New York State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony E. Kaplan and Sarala V. Nagala led the prosecution, sealing Koukouras’s fate in a system that doesn’t forgive those who turn American homes into drug factories. This wasn’t just trafficking—it was an underground empire, now dismantled.

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