An Oregon man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison on charges that, among other things, he used straw buyers to secure a loan on a home where he built an illegal marijuana production and distribution site.
Oregon District Judge Michael W. Mosman has sentenced Tu Ngoc Tran, 38, of Portland, to 63 months in prison following his conviction in a jury trial on drug and
The federal jury convicted Tran of one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, two counts of manufacturing marijuana, one count of making a false statement on a loan application, and one count of wire fraud. He was ordered to pay $341,112.83 in restitution to the victim lender, as well as a monetary judgment of $346,859.86.
Three other conspirators pleaded guilty to related offenses in the case. Minhthy Ngoc Tran pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture or distribute marijuana and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Huy Anh Nguyen pleaded guilty to manufacturing marijuana and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Kiet Anh Nguyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank larceny, a misdemeanor.
In late 2010, law enforcement officers from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit and the Clark Skamania Task Force in the Western District of Washington received an anonymous letter describing Tran’s involvement in illegal marijuana trafficking and mortgage fraud in Oregon and Washington. The letter described Tran’s use of two men as straw buyers to secure a loan of $350,000 that he used to buy a residence in Portland for his marijuana facility.
In late December 2010 and early January 2011, members of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, the Clark Skamania Drug Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Regional Organized Crime Narcotics Task Force executed search warrants at four residences in Oregon and Washington used as illegal marijuana grow operations by Tran and his associates.
Tran initially claimed to be growing marijuana for 10 people under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. However, an OMMP representative advised law enforcement that Tran was not registered to grow marijuana for anyone other than himself and that the locations he used were not registered with OMMP as authorized marijuana grow sites.
This case was investigated by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, the Regional Organized Crime Narcotics Task Force, the Clark Skamania Drug Task Force and the FBI. The case was prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys Jennifer Martin, Robert Nesler and AnneMarie Sgarlata.
