Yan Ebyam, Marijuana Distribution Conspiracy, CA 2023

A former Northern California man has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to grow and distribute marijuana. Yan Ebyam, 39, of Missoula, Montana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez for two separate conspiracies to grow and distribute marijuana.

According to court documents, Ebyam conspired with others to develop two industrial-sized marijuana cultivation sites in Sutter County and Sacramento. Ebyam and his co-conspirators sought to make profits from the illegal distribution of large amounts of marijuana.

On June 21, 2011, federal and state agents executed seven federal search warrants in Sacramento, Sutter, and Tehama Counties. Two of these warrants were executed at the sites of large, commercial greenhouses located at the Jopson Ranch in Rio Oso and at the Cal-Nevada Wholesale Florist in Sacramento.

Law enforcement officers seized over 5,000 marijuana plants in all stages of growth from these two locations: approximately 2,168 plants at Jopson Ranch and approximately 3,305 plants at Cal-Nevada Florist. Ten defendants were charged in these two cases, and all have now pleaded guilty to participation in the conspiracies and have been sentenced to prison.

These cases were the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Sutter County Sheriff’s Department, and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. It was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.

The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Hitt and Todd A. Pickles prosecuted the cases. U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced the sentencing of Yan Ebyam, bringing an end to a lengthy investigation and prosecution.

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