Key West
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Garden supply store owners charged with Conspiracy to manufacture marijuana; Conspiracy to "knowingly know" others are growing marijuana.
Gary Tucker, serving 10 years
Steve Tucker, serving 10 years
Joanne Tucker, serving 10 years, 1 month
Gary died in prison just before his release in 2002.
Inadequate medical attention in prison contributed to his death.
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By July, 1992, the DEA was involved in Operation Green Merchant, a campaign to eradicate indoor marijuana cultivation across the USA. Their targets were hydroponics stores and their customers all over the country. They would copy down the license plate numbers of customers, follow and spy on them, steal their garbage, and subpoena utility bills to check electrical usage, among other tactics in their effort to catch and arrest people.
Out of Operation Green Merchant grew Operation Triox. This time their target was a small, hydroponics store called Southern Lights and Hydroponics, Inc. in Norcross, Georgia. The owner, Gary Tucker, was approached by the DEA to put cameras in this store to secretly film all of his customers. His refusal to cooperate led to a promise to shut him down. The feds did more than that before they were done.
Gary Tucker, his wife Joanne, and his brother Steven, were convicted of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana based on the offenses of a few of their customers, with whom they had no contact beyond selling equipment which is completely legal.
The Tuckers had no marijuana, none on their person, none in their homes, none in their store. Nor did they have any drug paraphernalia. They were never caught selling drugs or buying drugs.
https://www.hr95.org/Tuckers.html
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