Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police charged that Victor R. Layman II, 39, masterminded a marijuana manufacturing and distribution organization that produced high-quality pot sold throughout the Roanoke area.
Layman's attorney, Arthur Strickland, said his client denies any involvement.
After police searched Layman's home on McVitty Road in Roanoke County on Tuesday, they charged him with conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and distributing the drug in Bedford County.
Layman posted a $50,000 bond Wednesday, a day after drug officers from five jurisdictions targeted his home and the residence of Majid Khoshghad.
In the basement of Khoshghad's home at 8181 Poor Mountain Road in Roanoke County, police discovered 750 pot plants with an estimated street value in excess of $5 million.
Police said Khoshghad's home appeared to have been turned into a high-tech pot factory, with areas for growing, drying and packaging. One pound of the pot produced from this process could be sold for $4,000, more than twice the usual per-pound price of marijuana, police said.
Khoshghad was arrested Tuesday at his other home in Rocky Mount. He remained in Roanoke County Jail on $100,000 bond.
Indoor pot-growing operations have risen across the state in the past two years, according to the state police. In the controlled environments, the plants are meticulously nurtured under hot lights and manipulated to produce more potent marijuana that can be sold for a higher price. The operation easily can be hidden.
Layman had been supplying at least one customer with 10 pounds of marijuana a month for the last 3 1/2 years, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The first break for investigators came in April, when an informant told them of a marijuana ring in the Roanoke Valley headed by a man who was president of a flower club and known only as "The Phototron Man," according to the affidavit.
The same month, Roanoke County vice officers received an anonymous tip that Layman was the head of a marijuana conspiracy that included five or six growers. Layman is the president of the Iris Society in Roanoke, the affidavit says.
Through electronic surveillance, police traced phone calls between Layman's McVitty Road home and Khoshghad's Poor Mountain Road residence. On Sunday police arrested a man they believe is one of the ring's upper-level suppliers, Robert Selman of Stewartsville, on drug charges.
Before he was arrested, police tape-recorded Selman allegedly demanding from an accomplice the names of the police officers investigating the drug ring. Selman said "the money man" - who police say is Layman - apparently wanted the names so he could physically harm the officers, the affidavit said.
In an interview, Layman denied that he ever made threats to authorities.
"It is so totally contrary to my personality," he said. "I'm a very peace-loving individual."
Wednesday afternoon, to protect the investigation, officials sealed the affidavits that detailed why police had searched the homes of Layman and Khoshghad. The affidavits already had been seen by a reporter.
The state police and law enforcement agents from Roanoke and the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt and Bedford have arrested other individuals in connection with the case, including Alfred Sink of the Catawba section of Botetourt County. Other names were not released.
More arrests are expected, authorities said.
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