Mastermind Drug Smuggler to Serve 24 Years in Prison

A Cypress man who masterminded one of the world’s largest marijuana-trafficking operations was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison Friday for smuggling more than 34 tons of the drug into the country from Thailand.

William E. Uhler, 40, was sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall in Los Angeles. He was convicted last December of federal charges stemming from the importation of $100 million worth of marijuana between 1985 and 1988.

Working from bases in Orange County and Hawaii, prosecutors said, Uhler and his lieutenants used a complex flotilla of vessels to bring the drug to the United States, including an 80-foot oil supply ship that secretly offloaded its cargo in mid-ocean to avoid detection.

Top Drug Enforcement Administration officials said they suspect Uhler was in business for a decade or more and was responsible for the importation of $500 million worth of marijuana into the country. They called his operation one of the most significant in the world.

After a six-week trial, jurors convicted Uhler of 16 counts of conspiracy, drug-trafficking and tax fraud, and one count of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Of the 12 other people indicted with Uhler, four have already been sentenced to prison and two more still face sentencing, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven D. Clymer. One is currently on trial, another was dismissed from the case, one was acquitted, yet another is in prison in Thailand and two more are fugitives, Clymer said.