DOJ Files Marijuana Trafficking Charges Against State Sen. L. Louise Lucas

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it has indicted Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas on several charges related to an alleged marijuana trafficking operation. 

NBC News reports that the 82-year-old Lucas and several other co-defendants have been indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy, marijuana distribution, money laundering, bribery-related offenses, drug-related firearms offenses, and fraud. Lucas turned herself in to authorities on Thursday and was released on the condition that she didn’t speak about the case with her co-defendants. 

Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel traveled to Norfolk on Thursday to announce the charges during a news conference. 

“The Department of Justice intends to prove that Sen. Lucas violated the trust of the people of Portsmouth and Chesapeake, Virginia, and of her state Senate colleagues,” Blanche said. “Her first duty should have been looking out for her constituents before herself.” FBI Director Kash Patel estimates the alleged scheme was worth about $4.5 million over five years.

According to WAVY, the DOJ alleged that Lucas headed what they call the “Lucas Enterprise.” Lucas has served in the state Senate since 1990 and has been president pro tempore since 2020. The DOJ has accused Lucas of using her position to protect the enterprise’s interests. 

From WAVY:

One part of the indictment centers on a business deal in August 2022. Prosecutors allege Lucas “paid $750,000 for a 100% stake in a business that was the shell holding company for a co-conspirator’s expected Virginia recreational marijuana license. Lucas allegedly failed to report the interest obtained in this entity on her required Statement of Economic Interests forms.”

The indictment also alleges Lucas then met with a co-conspirator at her office in the Capitol complex “to receive a partial repayment and spoke with other officials, including legislators, about the co-conspirator’s qualification for a recreational marijuana license depending on her receipt of a bribery payment from the co-conspirator.”

Lucas also worked with Carlton Upton Jr., 54, of Chesapeake, through VA Freedom Life, a business connected to The CBD Shoppe and The Cannabis Outlet. Prosecutors allege Upton, “allegedly made materially false attestations on an application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for Virginia Freedom Life, which was funded in the amount of $11,800.”

Lucas released a statement on Friday denying the charges. 

“Today, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother,” Lucas wrote. “I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back and I’m not stopping now.”

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger posted about the case on social media, stopping short of supporting Lucas but criticizing the DOJ for filing the charges so close to an election. “In our American system of justice, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that is true for Senator L. Louise Lucas. She and her family deserve the opportunity to present their defense and speak to the allegations presented,” Spanberger wrote. 

“The timing of this indictment undermines the U.S. Department of Justice’s previously longstanding policy of not taking legal actions — to include indictments or significant investigative steps — close to an election and sadly, this timing further erodes the trust the American people deserve to have in the Department of Justice.”

Blanche dismissed concerns about the timing, telling reporters the precedent is “not even a rule; it’s a practice.”

Lucas is not up for reelection during the midterms, but as Spanberger notes, it’s unusual for the federal government to announce such a high-profile case ahead of an upcoming election. Lucas was a staunch supporter of Virginia’s redistricting effort earlier this year, so this can’t help but feel like another attempt by the Trump administration to wage lawfare against their political opponents. 

That being said, the investigation into Lucas started before Trump took office, so it can’t entirely be written off as yet another toothless lawsuit filed by the Trump administration. 

SEE ALSO:

Who Is L. Louise Lucas? The Virginia Lawmaker Now At The Center Of An FBI Probe

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