United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce C. Balzano and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that a federal grand jury returned a multi-count indictment yesterday charging John Wesley Lane, 33, and Kelsey Ann Lane, 26, both of Anderson, California, with manufacturing and distributing marijuana. 

This case is the product of a joint investigation by the North State Marijuana Investigation Team, Siskiyou County Narcotics Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Land Management, Alcoholic Beverage Control, Shasta County Sheriff's Office, Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, Shasta Interagency Narcotic Task Force, California Department of Justice, and the FBI.   Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. McCoy is prosecuting the case.

According to court documents, on December 13, 2012, law enforcement agents executed federal search warrants at three properties owned, leased, and/or associated with John and Kelsey Lane: including a warehouse located on Eastside Road in Anderson; the Lanes’ residence located on Nicole Court in Anderson; and the California Patients Collective marijuana dispensary located on Churn Creek Road in Redding, California. 

When law enforcement agents entered the warehouse in Anderson, they discovered a complex indoor marijuana manufacturing operation that included approximately 2,700 mature marijuana plants and 1,300 marijuana clones.  Agents also seized approximately 40 kilograms of processed marijuana from the warehouse. 

During the execution of the search warrant at the Lanes’ residence in Anderson, California, agents located approximately 130 pounds of processed marijuana, numerous firearms, and $51,860.87 in U.S. currency.

During the execution of the search warrant at the California Patients Collective dispensary in Redding, agents located and seized nearly 200 marijuana plants, processed marijuana, concentrated cannabis, edible marijuana, and $4,673.00 in U.S. currency. 

In May of 2013, law enforcement agents obtained information that the Lanes were continuing to grow marijuana at the warehouse in Anderson.  Once again, federal search warrants were obtained and executed at the warehouse, the Lanes’ residence, and the California Patients Collective marijuana dispensary in Redding. 

During the execution of the search warrant at the warehouse, law enforcement agents once again found a complex indoor marijuana grow in full operation.  Inside the warehouse, agents located 2,329 mature marijuana plants and an additional 1,724 clones which had not developed a root structure.  John Lane, who was found at the warehouse at the time of the search, was arrested.

On June 13, 2013, John and Kelsey Lane were charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of California with conspiracy to manufacture at least 1,000 marijuana plants.  Both made their initial appearance in federal court on June 14, 2013.

Both defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on these charges in federal court in Sacramento today.

Both defendants face maximum statutory penalties of up to life in prison and statutory mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years in prison based on the quantity of drugs charged.  Any sentences, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. 

The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.