An 80-year-old man who operated a multi-state marijuana operation for decades was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug and money-laundering charges.
Prosecutors recommended that Marshall Dion serve no more than seven years after a plea deal was reached this month, though federal sentencing guidelines called for three decades.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper rejected the plea agreement, however, and sent attorneys back to the drawing board. A second round of negotiations ended with both sides suggesting a term of between five and 10 years in prison, to which Judge Casper agreed Tuesday.
Dion’s history of drug-related run-ins date back to 1985, when he crashed a single-engine plane in Wisconsin and was discovered crawling across a muddy field by police as thousands of dollars in cash floated in the air around him. Although he was never charged criminally, a judge at the time seized nearly $112,000 from the crash scene because investigators believed it likely stemmed from illegal activity.
Eighteen years later, Dion was pulled over for driving five miles over the speed limit by police in Kansas. When authorities searched his beat-up pickup truck, they recovered roughly $828,000 in cash and agreed to investigate further. Dion, who been in custody ever since, maintains the search was unconstitutional.
Authorities recovered about $15 million in cash from residences Dion maintained in Massachusetts and Arizona, as well as roughly 400 pounds of marijuana and detailed ledgers accounting for drug deals dating back to 1992.
Despite the six-figure cash stash, Dion’s attorney Hank Brennan told The Associated Press that his client has led a simple and nonviolent life.
“He didn’t have that lure of greed and power and oppression. He is a simple man who lived a very routine and habit-filled life,” Mr. Brennan said after Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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