Thomas Lee Carter, 59, of Upper Lake has reached a plea agreement with the US Attorney's Office, according to federal court documents.
Case documents show that on May 9, Carter made an appearance before Judge Jeffrey S. White in the U.S. District Court's Northern District of California in San Francisco.
There, Carter was placed on the witness stand and entered a guilty plea to one count of distributing or possessing with intent to distribute marijuana. The court accepted the plea and ordered the filing of a plea agreement.
According to federal documents, that charge carries a five-year minimum and 40-year maximum prison sentence and a $2 million fine. Supervised release terms range between a minimum of four years and a lifetime maximum.
Carter's federal public defender, Geoffrey Hansen, did not return calls seeking comment.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 6 in San Francisco.
In advance of the October sentencing date, the court ordered that Carter's case go to the US Probation Office for a presentencing report.
Carter had previously pleaded not guilty to two counts of distributing or possessing with intent to distribute marijuana plus a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. The latter charge carries a minimum 10-year sentence and $4 million fine.
Carter was arrested in August 2009 along with Brett Bassignani of Nice, who worked for Carter's contracting business.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents alleged Bassignani had agreed to sell 500 marijuana clones to two undercover agents and an informant in May 2006. The DEA had alleged Carter had been privy to the transaction.
The DEA also alleged that in August 2009 Carter had possessed with intent to distribute 100 or more marijuana plants.
The government would link the two men to several other people who were alleged to have been part of a marijuana distribution operation.
The other codefendants – all of them connected with medical marijuana dispensaries on the North Coast and in Southern California – included Scott and Diana Feil of Upper Lake and Redwood Valley; and Diana Feil's stepfather, Steven Swanson of Sebastopol. Later, yet another defendant, Mark Garcia of San Diego, was added to the case in a superseding indictment.
As part of the case, the federal government has sought millions of dollars in asset forfeiture from the group of defendants.
Court documents state that the defendants recently have reached a “global agreement” to resolve the case.
As a result, some of Carter's codefendants also have gone to court to change their pleas.
On May 26, Garcia went before Judge White and pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, with sentencing set for Oct. 27. The charge carries a minimum five-year sentence and $2 million fine.
On Wednesday, Swanson also went before Judge White to enter a change of plea, pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, with case documents stating that prison time ranges between a 10-year minimum and lifetime maximum, and a $4 million fine, and a minimum five-year and maximum lifetime supervised release.
Swanson also pleaded guilty to tax evasion, which carries a five-year prison sentence, three years of supervised release and $100,000 fine plus costs of prosecution.
His judgment and sentencing is set for Nov. 3.
The Feils also have reportedly reached an agreement “in principle” with the proposed agreement still being finalized, according to a May 26 filing.
Scott Feil's attorney, Charles Lindner of Santa Monica, did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
The latest filings did not mention any scheduled dates or any plea agreements specifically related to Bassignani.
White approved an order continuing matters in the case until June 23 at the request of the defendants.
Carter remains out on $200,000 bond, secured by one of his Upper Lake properties, until his October sentencing.
Stipulations of his release require him to stay in the Northern District unless traveling for work or family reasons to the Eastern District, with advance notification to the supervising pretrial services officer required.
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