AURORA | A 40-year-old Aurora man has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for operating a prodigious black market marijuana operation out of his Tollgate Crossing home.
A U.S. District Court judge on Wednesday sentenced Fudong Wu to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for maintaining a drug-involved premises, according to the local U.S. Attorney’s office. Wu, who was born in China but had been legally living as a permanent resident of the U.S., pleaded guilty to the charges against him in December 2019.
Prosecutors said Wu and his wife, Hanli Yang, were growing more than 1,100 marijuana plants in their east Aurora home, dwarfing the legal limit of 12 plants per residence. After executing a search warrant on Wu’s home on Oct. 10, 2018, Federal authorities later seized more than $72,000 in cash and marijuana grow notes at a nearby storage unit under his name.
Officials were first tipped off to Wu’s gargantuan operation after investigators discovered that his home at 23641 E. Whitaker Dr. was using an outsized amount of electricity, according to federal court documents. The couple had been living in their home, which they bought in March 2018, with two children.
“These are large-scale commercial growers hiding in plain sight in hundreds of neighborhoods across Colorado,” U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn said in a statement.
Wu’s wife was previously sentenced to two years of probation for her role in the enterprise.
Wu’s prison term marks the eighth such sentence rendered for a Colorado black market marijuana grower following a years-long investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Launched in 2017, the probe culminated with hundreds of search warrants executed across the metroplex two years ago, resulting in the seizure of more than 80,000 individual marijuana plants in various stages of maturity.
Dunn’s office announced the arrest of 42 people involved in the ring in May 2019, making it the most expansive black market marijuana case in state history. More than a dozen of those arrested have been prosecuted in federal court, while dozens of others face charges at the state level. 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said last year that he expects to prosecute a total of 75 felony cases as a result of the sting.
Agents executed warrants at dozens of Aurora homes, and several former Aurora residents have already been sentenced for growing illegal weed along the city’s eastern flanks.
Further sentencing announcements against defendants implicated in the grow operation are still pending.
Wu will be required to turn himself in to the Federal Bureau of Prisons by Oct. 7, nearly two years to the day after federal agents raided his Aurora home beside E-470.
If you gonna legalize it, LEGALIZED IT!