Five Oroville men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento for participating in marijuana cultivation and distribution.
The grand jury Thursday returned a six-count indictment charging the men for conspiring to cultivate marijuana and ship it to New York.
Named in the indictment are Kenneth George Eaton, 55; William Joseph Bohac, 62; Thomas Eugene Ganey, 51; and Jonathan Dale Ganey, 21, all of Oroville. In a related case, Jimmy Earl Hatcher, 31, of Oroville and Texas, was charged with cultivating marijuana, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.
According to court documents, Eaton and his associates had been negotiating with Gjavit Thaqi, a significant drug trafficker operating in New York, to supply Thaqi with high quality marijuana from California. Thaqi and 35 others have been charged in the Eastern District of New York with trafficking cocaine, marijuana, MDMA and prescription drugs.
When federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents executed search warrants in Oroville at addresses connected to Eaton and his associates, they seized and destroyed more than 1,400 marijuana plants and various marijuana cultivation equipment, according to the news release. At one address where agents seized more than 400 marijuana plants, they found a Proposition 215 medical marijuana recommendation posted near the door, officials said.
The case resulted from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Butte County Sheriff's Office.
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