United States Drug Enforcement Administration

INDIANAPOLIS, IN. - Danny Harmon, 56, of New Castle, Indiana was convicted on August 26 on drug conspiracy charges following a jury trial before United States District Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson in Indianapolis. A cooperative effort by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division and the Henry County Indiana Drug Task Force led to the charges against Harmon.

Federal prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Harmon was the leader of a large marijuana distribution conspiracy that operated from Arizona to Indiana. Further presented was presented at trial that the Harmon-led organization was responsible for the distribution of thousands of kilograms of the drug from approximately 2004 through Harmon’s arrest in May 2011. Several additional individuals were identified by law enforcement as assisting Harmon in his criminal activities. Some of the individuals made trips between Indiana and Arizona to transport marijuana at Harmon’s direction. In 2009, law enforcement officers in Prescott, Arizona and Tulsa, Oklahoma seized marijuana loads from Harmon co-conspirators which were bound for Indiana. A third marijuana shipment organized by Harmon was seized in Colby, Kansas, in January, 2011. On January 22, 2011, police executed a search warrant at the Henry County property of Harmon’s co-conspirator, Bradford Raines. Officers discovered additional quantities of marijuana and approximately $14,000 cash in drug proceeds. The marijuana distributed by Harmon over the course of the conspiracy had a street value worth millions of dollars.

Harmon faces penalties of not less than 20 years in federal prison, and a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Harmon also faces a potential fine of up to $20 million dollars, and the judicial forfeiture of real property and vehicles which were derived from his illegal activities. A sentencing hearing will be set before Judge Magnus-Stinson.