Men sentenced in Naples pot grow

November 7, 2012

Four men – three from Oregon, one from Alaska – were sentenced this week for conspiracy to manufacture and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. The men appeared before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene on Monday and Tuesday.

Robert Wayne Baucum, 57, of Scio, Oregon, was sentenced on Monday to 70 months in prison; he pleaded guilty to the charge on June 19. Charles Albert Goodenough, 41, of Houston, Alaska, was sentenced to 37 months; he pleaded guilty on July 19. Ronald Clifford Underwood, 55, of Albany, Oregon, was sentenced to 34 months; he pleaded guilty on June 19.

The three defendants were also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following their prison term.

Raymond Earl Hogle, 51, of Albany, Oregon, was sentenced this morning to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release; he pleaded guilty to the charge on April 24.

Statements made during the plea hearing indicate that between 2004 and 2011, the four men conspired to grow marijuana, some of which was grown in barns on property owned by Baucum in Naples.

The conspiracy involved at least 1,000 marijuana plants.

During the investigation, law enforcement officers seized marijuana, marijuana growing equipment, vehicles, over $50,000 in currency and precious metals, and over $1 million in real estate.

Co-defendant Justin Egner of Springfield, Oregon, is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3 for his role in the conspiracy.

The case was the result of a joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which included the cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Idaho State Police, Boundary County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Linn County Sheriff’s Office (Oregon), and the Alaska State Troopers.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.

Task force members include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Marshals Service.