Subterranean Pot Farmer Sentenced

The Lancaster plumbing contractor who authorities say masterminded a trio of high-tech underground marijuana farms in the Antelope Valley and Arizona was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison and fined $25,000 Monday in Arizona, a prosecutor said.

Frank E. Gegax, 48, the owner of KMG Construction, was sentenced in Phoenix by U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt, who also handed down lesser sentences to Gegax’s brother Michael and two other defendants, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Ann Birmingham.

The case stemmed from raids in October and November, 1990, on the three underground farms--one in Lancaster and two near Bullhead City, Ariz.--in which authorities seized more than 20,000 marijuana plants with a potential harvest value of more than $75 million.

Frank Gegax was one of 14 people indicted in Arizona last November for the three farms. All except one man who remains at large have pleaded guilty. Two other men also have been found guilty in Los Angeles in connection with a fourth, copycat farm in the Llano area of the Antelope Valley.

Gegax struck a plea-bargain with prosecutors May 30 shortly after his trial began in U.S. District Court in Prescott. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to grow and distribute the marijuana and to one newly filed money laundering count, in exchange for the 12-year sentence.

Birmingham said Gegax could have faced at least 20 years in prison had he been found guilty of the three counts originally filed against him--one count of conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

Gegax remained in federal custody Monday. Under federal prison practices, Birmingham said Gegax can expect to serve about 85% of his sentence. Gegax asked that he be sent to a federal prison close to his home in Lancaster, but that decision will be up to federal prison authorities, Birmingham said.

Meanwhile, authorities have had little to say about what became of the profits, potentially in the millions of dollars, from the farms’ marijuana sales. Under his plea-bargain, Gegax is required to forfeit any drug-related assets, but has turned over nothing yet, Birmingham said. Federal authorities do not have any evidence that Gegax holds such assets, she said.

Also on Monday, Rosenblatt sentenced Michael Gegax, Frank Gegax’s brother and the owner of one of the Arizona farms, to 32 months in custody. Calvin G. James, a worker at the Lancaster farm, was sentenced to 22 months. Robert Benson, a worker at one of the Arizona farms, drew an eight-month sentence, Birmingham said.

All three, who had been among those named in the Arizona indictment, had previously pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiring to grow and distribute the marijuana under plea-bargains with the government, Birmingham said.