80-Year-Old Pot Dealer Gets 10 Years After Colorful History

By The Associated Press

BOSTON — Mar 22, 2016

An 80-year-old man who ran a sprawling marijuana-dealing operation that covered several states, with records going back to 1992, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Marshall Dion pleaded guilty last year to drug and money-laundering charges, and Tuesday's sentencing in Massachusetts was the latest chapter in a long, colorful history with law enforcement.

In 1985, he crashed a single-engine plane he was piloting in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, breaking both his ankles. When sheriff's deputies arrived, he was crawling along a muddy field as money floated in the air. The government was allowed to keep nearly $112,000 in cash recovered from the crash scene after a judge found it was likely drug proceeds, but Dion was not charged criminally.

When police in Junction City, Kansas, stopped him for speeding in 2013, they found about $828,000 in cash in his pickup truck. A federal investigation led authorities to Massachusetts and Arizona, where they found about $15 million in cash, nearly 400 pounds of marijuana and ledgers detailing drug deals going back to 1992.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper rejected a plea agreement that called for a five- to seven-year prison sentence for Dion. His lawyers then reached a new agreement with prosecutors that called for a sentence range of five to 10 years. Judge Denise Casper sentenced him to the maximum during a hearing in U.S. District Court.

Dion has been in custody since his arrest in 2013, so he has already served 2 1/2 years of his sentence. He declined to address the court during his sentencing hearing.

Dion's lawyer, Hank Brennan, recommended a five-year sentence. He said Dion was nonviolent and lived a simple life, despite the large quantities of cash his business made.

"He didn't have that lure of greed and power and oppression. He is a simple man who lived a very routine and habit-filled life," Brennan said after the hearing.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of a little over six years. A spokeswoman for prosecutors did not return a call seeking comment.

http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/80-year-pot-dealer-10-years-colorful-history-37852765/
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Some back story...

At 79, drug trafficker may still be in business
Convicted in 1980s, ‘everyday guy’ is now accused of running lucrative ring
November 22, 2014

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/11/22/drug-trafficker-exploits-read-like-hollywood-script/8LrA4LDCkqG6SnbAuVniNN/story.html/

Someone at some point has to do a movie about this guy.

Hello Hollywood....:

"Blow", Johnny Depp

"Sorry for partying"

Ol' Marshal gives zero fricks

I was gonna make a serious post.
But then I got high.


I was gonna say this guy is toast.
But then I got high.


I was gonna say a different career might have been a better opportunity.
But then I got high.

I was gonna say with that conviction, he'll be a jailhouse celebrity.
But then I got high.

So was I.
But then I got high.

Alvin and the chipmunks -
Because I got high:

http://youtu.be/0xDBt2JTfMw/