SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on January 27, 2022, Carlos Santurtan-Teran, age 61, of Miami, Florida, was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. The jury returned the guilty verdict following a three-day trial before United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani.
According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, DEA agents discovered an illegal marijuana trafficking conspiracy during a court authorized wiretap of a phone being utilized in furtherance of a drug trafficking scheme to import and distribute cocaine. That wiretap and the later execution of a search warrant established that Santurtan-Teran participated in the conspiracy to grow and distribute marijuana in Tecumseh, Michigan. Santurtan-Teran and his conspirators purportedly were growing the marijuana under color of Michigan’s medical marijuana law, when in truth, the Michigan grow operation was a front to distribute marijuana illegally in several other states including Pennsylvania. The federal jury deliberated two-hours before returning the guilty verdict on January 26, 2022.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s offices in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Toledo, Ohio. Assistant United States Attorneys Todd K. Hinkley and Phillip J. Caraballo prosecuted the case.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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