ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9512030029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
Three defendants in a marijuana-growing network dubbed the "Phototron" operation pleaded guilty Friday, including a couple who stopped growing pot and moved out of the state years before police caught on.
Cheryl Fender, 41, and her husband, George, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana for their part in growing the outlawed plants in the basement of two Roanoke County houses.
Robert Selman, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for selling some of the marijuana.
Seven other defendants are set for trial Dec. 11, although more guilty pleas are expected. Police said they believe the indoor marijuana-growing operation was the largest in the Roanoke Valley and that the product was the best-quality pot they have ever seen.
The Fenders left the operation before police began investigating but implicated themselves when they confessed to detectives who showed up at their house in Maine in January. Now Bible students, they said they had a spiritual obligation to cooperate and outlined their involvement to police and a grand jury.
The Fenders "basically laid everything out for us," Roanoke County Detective Huck Ewers testified at the hearing Friday.
Cheryl Fender pleaded guilty to growing marijuana at 6770 Musical Lane in Back Creek. According to her plea agreement, she will be considered responsible for 90 kilograms of pot when her sentence is imposed in February. Sentencing is based in part on the amount of drugs involved.
George Fender pleaded guilty to growing pot at Musical Lane and at 3319 Springtree Drive, after his then-girlfriend, Cheryl, moved to Maine. He will be held responsible for 120 kilograms, an amount that carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.
But because the Fenders cooperated with the government and will testify against their co-defendants if necessary, the prosecutor can ask the judge to give them less time than sentencing guidelines call for.
Ewers, the lead agent on the case that involved police from around the region as well as state police and federal agents, testified that the Fenders told them that at its peak, Musical Lane had 900 to 1,100 plants growing there and Springtree had 150 to 300.
Selman, who refused to work undercover for police after he was caught meeting with a lower-level distributor, will not get credit for assisting the government. His plea agreement calls for the judge to decide how much pot he was responsible for distributing and to decide how long he was involved in the conspiracy.
The agreement ensures that he will be held responsible for fewer than 100 kilograms, the amount at which a five-year mandatory minimum kicks in. His attorney, Jack Gregory, said he probably faces between 18 months and four years in prison.
Police said Selman told them after he was arrested that for three years he was selling about 10 pounds a month that he received from Victor Layman. Layman and six others, who all pleaded not guilty, are scheduled for trial Dec. 11.
U.S. District Judge James Turk ruled last month that Selman's confession could not be used at his trial because police were abusive in the way they arrested him and either did not read him his rights or did so when he was in such a state of shock that it wouldn't have registered. But police still had taped conversations between Selman and one of his customers talking about marijuana sales.
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