By Damon Arthur | Redding Record Searchlight
A Siskiyou County man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in prison on marijuana growing charges and for attempting to bribe former Sheriff Jon Lopey.
Chi Meng Yang, 36, of Montague, and his sister, Gaosheng Laitinen, 41, of St. Paul, Minnesota, were sentenced Tuesday in connection to a bribery scheme aimed at “protecting” illicit marijuana grows in Siskiyou County from law enforcement, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.
Yang was sentenced to five years and 11 months in prison. Laitinen was sentenced to time-served and a $50,000 fine.
In March of this year, a federal jury convicted Yang of attempting to bribe Lopey, conspiracy to commit bribery and manufacturing more than 100 marijuana plants.
Shortly before the trial, Laitinen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.
The attempted bribery happened during a series of meetings between Yang and Lopey, starting in May 2017, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Yang offered to make a series of payments to Lopey, including money for a charity, for his re-election campaign and in cash payments, according to the attorney’s office.
It started with Yang offering to give the sheriff $1 million toward the charity of his choice, in exchange for Lopey’s friendship and his help lobbying to legalize medical marijuana in Missouri, officials said.
Read the original article at Record Searchlight
(Important: If you like the story, please help share it with others. We greatly appreciate it.)
Want to share your story? Email your story to contact@hmongtales.com. You can remain anonymous.
Please report any errors and typos by emailing contact@hmongtales.com