San Diego
Jack David Mooers, 57, a part-time professor of education at San Diego State University, was charged Wednesday by a federal grand jury in San Diego with conspiring to manufacture and possess marijuana with intent to distribute, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Mooers’ half-brother, James Wesley Johnson, 44, and Bartolo Mercado-Espinoza, 26, a Mexican national, were charged with the same offenses.
U.S. Atty. William Braniff said the four-count indictment charges each defendant with conspiring to manufacture and possess marijuana with intent to distribute and with manufacturing and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.
If convicted, the defendants face a minimum mandatory penalty of five years in prison and maximum penalty of up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Randy Jones said that a recent search of the home owned by Mooers in the 19000 block of Deerhorn Valley Road in Jamul turned up 614 marijuana plants and an additional 400 pounds of marijuana that had been dried and packaged for distribution.
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. today in the courtroom of U.S. Magistrate Roger Curtis McKee.
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