A Chinese man who admitted shooting four people to death during an illegal medical marijuana operation on an Oklahoma farm has been sentenced to life in prison.
Chen Wu, 47, was charged with first-degree murder 4 in connection with the Nov. 20, 2022, murder, the Associated Press reported, citing court information. He pleaded guilty to one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. record. Prosecutors said Wu, also known in prison records as Wu Cheng, demanded $300,000 in restitution in the garage of a farm west of Hennessey, a town about 55 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. Within minutes, he shot and killed three men and one woman. We focused on growing business.
Authorities said Wu and all of the victims were Chinese nationals, and that the marijuana cultivation operation on the 10-acre farm was operated under an illegally obtained license to grow marijuana for medical purposes. According to court documents, those killed in the attack were Lin Huirong, Chen Hechun, Chen Heqiang, and Li Fanghui. A fifth person, Lin Yi Fei, was injured.
Miami Beach police said Wu was arrested in Florida two days after the shooting, and a tag reader flagged the vehicle he was driving at the time. He was then extradited to Oklahoma.
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Chen Wu is seen in this photo provided by the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The man was sentenced to life in prison in 2022 after pleading guilty to killing four workers at a marijuana farm in Oklahoma. (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, via AP, File)
As part of the plea deal, Wu was sentenced to life in prison without parole on each murder charge and 20 years in prison on the assault charge. He will serve his sentences concurrently. “This case should serve as a reminder of the dangers surrounding illegal marijuana activity in Oklahoma,” Kingfisher County District Attorney Tommy Humphries said, according to The Oklahoman.
Authorities later charged Yi Fei Lin with another assault. That case remains pending.
A man with the same name was listed in court documents as the 25% owner of the same medical marijuana farm.
A four-murder investigation led to the arrest of 35-year-old Richard Ignacio, who is accused of being the “straw” or “ghost” owner of a medical marijuana farm, KFOR reports.
Ignacio “falsely claimed 75% ownership of Liu & Chen Inc. to satisfy the residential ownership requirements for licensing and manufacturing under the Act, and the Oklahoma Medical Cannabis Authority required the manufacturing of marijuana.” license and registration with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics fraudulently and fraudulently.” Oklahoma State Law,” according to court documents. In Oklahoma, 75% owners of marijuana businesses must reside in the state for two years and be involved in the day-to-day management of the business.
A photo of Chen Wu after his arrest in Florida was provided by the U.S. Marshals to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)
Ignacio allegedly fraudulently agreed to have his name listed on the license. Prosecutors said Ignacio “subsequently handed over control of the farm to the 25% owner.” The owner is listed as Yi Fei Lin, a Chinese national who is not eligible to obtain an OMMA license or OBN registration on his own. He allegedly did so after being promised a monthly payment of $2,000.
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According to court documents, Ignacio admitted to lending his name to six people. marijuana farms in oklahoma, I’ve made over $100,000 in the last two years because of it.
In December 2023, Ignacio and two others, Kevin Paul Pham and Alexander Xian Ling Zhang, were arrested by a multi-county Oklahoma grand jury in a four-murder case about a year earlier. & Chen was charged with 13 felonies in connection with the Chen farm scheme. reported Southwest Ledger News.
This file photo shows cannabis growing under lights at Canna Culture’s greenhouse in Chickasha, Oklahoma, on July 26, 2021. The state legalized medical marijuana businesses in 2017, but then suspended new licenses. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post, Getty Images)
They may, individually or collectively, commit conspiracy, filing false or forged documents, illegally manufacturing marijuana, trafficking methamphetamine, possessing a firearm after being convicted of multiple felonies, and making financial transactions involving the proceeds of fraud. , and is facing charges of engaging in a pattern. All three defendants appeared in Kingfisher County District Court, pleaded not guilty and were released on bail, the newspaper reported.
Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018.
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Gov. Kevin Stitt then signed a bill into law in 2022 that suspends licenses for new medical marijuana growers, dispensaries and processors in the state for two years. Lawmakers warned that limited enforcement resources and out-of-state and foreign actors were involved in operations that exploited the state’s residency requirements, NBC News reported. Authorities are also sounding the alarm about a growing number of black market operators exploiting human trafficking victims, including Chinese nationals, to grow and trim marijuana to be sold at legal dispensaries, according to NBC.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
