An Oregon marijuana processor was arrested Thursday in Nebraska on drug trafficking allegations after deputies reported discovering about $1.1 million in cannabis extract in his U-Haul van during a traffic stop.
Mark Pettinger, a spokesman for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, said this was the first known case of a licensed Oregon marijuana supplier arrested for allegedly trafficking in another state.
Richard Wilkinson, 38, of Damascus was stopped in downtown Lincoln for following another vehicle too closely, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
Business filings with the Oregon Secretary of State Office show Wilkinson owns Rich Extracts, a Clackamas business licensed to process and sell cannabis extract.
Deputies with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office searched the U-Haul van when they smelled marijuana and discovered 25 pounds of the extract, sealed packages of marijuana, vials of hash oil and 3,500 marijuana seeds, the newspaper reported.
Deputies said Wilkinson and a man with him, John E. Carlston of Cranston, Rhode Island, apparently were en route to a state where medical marijuana is legal, the Journal Star reported.
Wilkinson was arrested on an allegation of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute and Carlston was arrested on an abetting allegation, according to the newspaper’s account.
Although Wilkinson’s case is unique, at least one other Oregon licensed producer has been arrested on suspicion of unlawful export over the last year.
The Curry Coastal Pilot reported in May that O’Donnell Doyle, co-owner of the now-shuttered South Coast Dispensaries in Brookings, was arrested after he allegedly tried to ship marijuana products to California.
O’Doyle’s license was suspended after the arrest, Pettinger said.
Follow @edercampuzano
Information from The Oregonian
