(Lexington Clipper-Herald) Authorities plan to seize a dozen vehicles, several properties and more than $500,000 in cash as they unravel a marijuana-dealing ring they say was being run out of the Douglas County Correctional Center.
Federal prosecutors accuse 11 defendants of running a “major” marijuana trafficking organization that distributed more than 2,200 pounds of the drug.
On Monday, 10 of those people visited a federal courtroom. Among them was Shannon E. Williams, the man authorities accuse of orchestrating the drug ring from 2006 to last week.
Williams pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, money laundering and criminal forfeiture. Williams has been at the county jail in downtown Omaha since shortly after his January arrest in Arizona on suspicion of indecent exposure, an arrest officials say also exposed his possession of 10 bricks of marijuana.
Since his return to face federal parole violations, it appears Williams has dealt no marijuana from the jail but instead orchestrated trafficking on the outside.
Williams has previously faced charges in crimes ranging from the murder of a rival gang member to dealing crack cocaine.
If we can’t stop people from dealing drugs from within prison, why does anyone think we can stop people from dealing drugs on the outside?
This Williams is no saint, which is even more reason I want cannabis relegalized. Why should a perfectly decent plant like cannabis be unregulated so that violent criminals can control its marketing and reap great untaxed profits? With a legal retail marijuana market, nobody who wants marijuana has to get it from the lackeys of some imprisoned murderous crack-dealing gangster.
