NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

MARCH 12, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN SENTENCED FOR MARIJUANA-GROWING CONSPIRACY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a marijuana-growing operation in Daviess County, Mo.

             Jhanmay Molina-Perez, 30, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner this morning to 11 years and three months in federal prison without parole.

             On July 25, 2008, Molina-Perez was convicted by a federal jury of participating in a conspiracy to manufacture marijuana from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2006. He was also found guilty of managing the property that was used for growing marijuana.

             On Sept. 6, 2006, a neighbor of the 22-acre property rented by Molina-Perez, which is located near Cameron, Mo., heard gunshots and discovered the bodies of two men who had been fatally shot. When law enforcement officers arrived at the scene they discovered a field behind the residence that was partially planted in corn in an attempt to conceal more than 3,000 marijuana plants, ranging from 6 to 12 feet tall.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregg R. Coonrod and Patrick D. Daly. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Metro Drug Task Force, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Daviess County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Cameron, Mo., Police Department, the St. Joseph, Mo., Police Department, NITRO (the Northwest Missouri Interagency Team Response Operation), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, with assistance from the Daviess County, Mo., Prosecutor’s Office.