OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma City resident implicated in a black market marijuana distribution plan that involved a fake Amazon delivery van was sentenced to nine years in federal prison.
Brandon Ye, 43, who was born in China but said he has lived in the U.S. since 2000, pleaded guilty in August 2023 to charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
A federal grand jury here indicted Ye and several other co-defendants in May 2023, charging them for their roles in a major marijuana drug trafficking organization.
According to public records, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, and Oklahoma City Police Department officers, were investigating reports of a separate DTO in December 2022 when they observed a vehicle disguised as an Amazon delivery van pull up to a suspected drug stash house. Agents watched as several individuals loaded the van with large, full trash bags.
The van’s registration led authorities to a Ye-owned company in Oklahoma City that makes kitchen counters and cabinets, and to a home in Oklahoma City also owned by Ye, where authorities observed what was later determined to be a fake Amazon van parked in the driveway.
An affidavit in a previously filed criminal complaint further alleged that Ye, working with the co-defendants and others, would pick up trash bags containing vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana from licensed marijuana grows across Oklahoma, and deliver the bags to a stash house operated by Ye in Oklahoma City.
From there, the marijuana was repackaged into cardboard boxes and would be moved to two warehouses owned by Ye, to be picked up by a semi-truck and transported to the East Coast. It’s estimated that between June 2022 and March 2023, Ye helped ship approximately 28 tons of marijuana out of Oklahoma.
Ye pleaded guilty in September 2023 and admitted knowingly possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute, and to possessing a firearm while distributing that marijuana illegally.
At the sentencing hearing on June 20, U.S. District Judge Scott L. Palk sentenced Ye to serve 108 months in federal prison. In announcing the sentence, Palk specifically noted the vast amount of marijuana transported by Ye during his clandestine operation.
In addition, Ye agreed to forfeit property he owns, including a house in Oklahoma City, a 2018 Tesla, the 2018 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van disguised as an Amazon delivery vehicle, a 2021 Ford van, a 2019 Ford F-250 pickup, a 9mm pistol, and $68,900 cash.
Ye also agreed to abandon “any right or title” to a house in south Oklahoma City, a 2017 Freightliner semi-truck, a 2015 Hyundai trailer, and a 2019 Dodge commercial van. Foreign nationals dominate Oklahoma’s illegal marijuana operations Federal prosecutors here have convicted multiple Chinese nationals of drug trafficking conspiracy and marijuana distribution. The cases underscore the testimony of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in his appearance Jan. 10 before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security.
“Throughout Oklahoma, law enforcement comes into daily contact with foreign nationals who entered our country illegally or remain here illegally — or both,” Drummond said. “This is all too common in Oklahoma’s illegal marijuana grow operations.”
Law enforcement officers “report that the foreign nationals most often involved in these illegal enterprises come from China and Mexico,” Drummond noted.
“Oklahoma has one of the largest illegal marijuana industries in the United States, and the FBI recognizes the devastating impact these illicit operations have on our economy and the safety of our communities,” FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray said in January.
As just one example, in May 2023 the FBI raided a marijuana farm near Wetumka that was licensed by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, and counted 19,661 plants, officials reported. The FBI also seized $104,281 in vacuum-sealed cash and seized a pistol on the premises.
Jeff Weng, 47, of China and Brooklyn, New York, was the manager of the marijuana farm, and Tong Lin, 29, of China, was a management intern at the grow operation. Both were convicted Jan. 18 by a Western Oklahoma U.S. District Court jury on a charge of conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants.
A sentencing memorandum revealed that Tong Lin is a Chinese national who came to the U.S. in 2011. In the document he was described as “an uneducated Chinese immigrant who speaks virtually no English and has no transferrable job skills.”
Lin said he met Weng at a community social gathering in New York City “and discovered they were distant cousins.” Later, when seeking work, Lin contacted Weng “who appeared to be a successful Chinese businessman” and his cousin offered Lin a job in Oklahoma. At that time, Lin “had heard the word ‘Oklahoma’ but didn’t know what it meant nor where it was,” the memorandum relates.
U.S. District Judge Scott Palk sentenced Lin on June 17 to 10 years in federal prison. Weng still awaits sentencing. Meanwhile, the court approved an application for the forfeiture of the Wetumka farm and $104,281 in U.S. currency that was seized.
OKC businessman was key witness Brandon Ye was a key witness against Jeff Weng and Tong Lin.
Appearing for the prosecution, Ye testified that he collected marijuana from 20 different Oklahoma grow operations for shipment out of state; he said he was paid $15 per pound. All of those marijuana farms were operated by Chinese nationals, Ye testified through a translator.
Testimony revealed that the drug conspirators drove delivery vans disguised as commercial vehicles, including the one that appeared to be an Amazon delivery van, to the Wetumka marijuana farm 10 to 15 times between December 2022 and March 31, 2023.
Between 150 and 200 pounds of marijuana was picked up each time from the Wetumka grow, and Lin helped load the delivery van with marijuana, jurors were told.
Ye testified that the marijuana was transported to a “stash house” in northwest Oklahoma City, and every Friday the marijuana was moved from the stash house to a warehouse at his business, Arch Granite & Cabinetry in Oklahoma City.
There, more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana at a time was loaded into a semi-truck trailer, which transported the marijuana from Oklahoma to the East Coast. Over approximately seven months, upwards of 56,000 pounds of marijuana was transported out of Oklahoma via the truck.
Federal officials initiated legal measures to seize the property near Wetumka and eight other properties in the state. Addresses of the other properties were listed as Rush Springs, Alex, Oakland, Elk City, Watonga, Foster, Piedmont, and Oklahoma City.