An 82-year-old United States state senator, L. Louise Lucas, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly leading a criminal marijuana distribution enterprise.
Lucas, a Democrat who is President pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, was indicted alongside six others, including her two daughters and a grandson, on Thursday.
According to the US Department of Justice, the eight-count indictment alleges racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to possess and distribute over 100 kilograms of marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, bribery, wire fraud, maintenance of drug-involved premises and firearms offences.
Prosecutors allege that Lucas led what they described as the “Lucas Enterprise,” a close-knit group of family members and associates, including her daughters Lisa Lucas-Burke and Theresa Lucas Lamb, and her grandson Ryan Eichelberger, that distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds over five years.
The indictment alleges the scheme generated an estimated $4.5 million.
FBI Director, Kash Patel said Lucas used her political position as Chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, which oversees Virginia’s budget and spending, to shield the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and to influence legislation for financial benefit.
“Today’s indictment reveals Louise Lucas allegedly abused her position of public trust as a 30-year Virginia State Senator to put her own financial interests ahead of the people she represents,” Patel said.
Attorney General, Todd Blanche said, “The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve.”
Prosecutors also allege Lucas acquired a stake in a shell company connected to an expected recreational marijuana licence and failed to disclose it on her Statement of Economic Interests forms, and discussed the applicant’s prospects with officials in connection with an alleged bribery payment.
Lucas, who has served in the Virginia Senate since 1991 and has been a vocal advocate for marijuana legalisation, surrendered to law enforcement on Thursday.
She was released on her own recognizance and is scheduled for arraignment on November 16 in Newport News, southeastern Virginia.
Responding to the charges, Lucas said the case was politically motivated.
“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. 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,” she said.
Her counsel, Brian Woolfolk, said: “This is the circus we always expected it to be, and we will wait for further details to have a more specific response.”
The charges followed an FBI search in May of Lucas’s office and a cannabis shop, The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth, in which she has a stake.
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