Feds charge powerful Virginia Democrat in alleged drug scheme

Norfolk, Virginia — L. Louise Lucas, a powerful Virginia state senator and vocal Trump critic who played a central role in the state's redistricting effort last year, was taken into federal custody Thursday and charged in connection with an alleged bribery and racketeering scheme, the Justice Department said.

According to a 45-page indictment filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, Lucas and six other co-defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute and possess marijuana, conspiring to launder money, laundering money and committing bribery by distributing large quantities of illegal marijuana under the auspices of her legal medical cannabis business.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment last week. Lucas, 82, surrendered to law enforcement on Thursday morning. She faces five of the eight charges included in the indictment. Lucas is set to make her initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge in the afternoon. 

The charges come nearly six months after federal law enforcement searched Lucas' office and a shop called The Cannabis Outlet that she co-owns in Portsmouth, Virginia. One source familiar with the investigation told CBS News at the time of the search that the investigation started during the Biden administration. 

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia alleged in the indictment that since at least 2019, Lucas has been the leader of the scheme and used her political influence in Virginia to enact legislation and regulations to financially benefit herself and co-defendants, as well as insulate the alleged criminal enterprise from state law enforcement.

Lucas allegedly directed the enterprise to buy and sell over 100 kilograms of illegal marijuana. She was indicted alongside her daughters, Lisa-Lucas Burke and Theresa Lucas-Lamb, and grandson, Ryan Eichelberger, in addition to other co-defendants. 

In a statement, Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the charges against Lucas and her co-defendants "reveal the behavior of a public servant who will put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve."

Medical marijuana can be sold by licensed dispensaries in Virginia and people can possess a certain amount for personal use. The state is set to launch regulated retail marijuana sales next year after the Virginia legislature legalized the sale of recreational cannabis in July.

Lucas sponsored a legalization bill in the state Senate in 2021 and has supported other measures decriminalizing marijuana, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Prosecutors claimed that in 2023 and 2024, Lucas was issued violation notices from the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services related to The Cannabis Outlet for selling cannabis products that did not comply with state law. 

According to the indictment, Lucas allegedly told an unindicted co-conspirator that she wanted a recreational license in the state to create "generational wealth" for her and her family, adding "this is my last chance."

In a phone call with a Virginia state lawmaker in March, Lucas allegedly said she needed the recreational industry to begin because "when I did it, it was obviously illegal."

Lucas was a key figure in pushing for a new congressional map through Virginia's Legislature that had added four Democratic-leaning seats. The map was approved in a ballot referendum in April but in May the Virginia Supreme Court tossed out the new map, dealing a blow to state Democrats. The U.S. Supreme Court then rejected an effort by Virginia Democrats to revive the new House lines.

Lucas was first elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 1991 and is currently the Senate president pro tempore. As she helped lead the Democratic redistricting plan earlier this year, Lucas used social media to taunt Republicans, President Trump and even the Democratic U.S. senators from her state. She was reelected in 2023 to a four-year term and is not up for reelection until 2027. 

"You all started it and we f***ing finished it," she posted on social media after the measure passed, referring to Mr. Trump's push to redraw Texas' congressional map that kicked off the redistricting battle between the two parties.