KINGFISHER – Three men suspected of filing fraudulent documents for illegal marijuana farms were indicted by an Oklahoma multicounty grand jury earlier this month on 13 felony counts.
Apparently the indictments stemmed from an investigation into the fatal shootings of four Chinese nationals, and the wounding of a fifth, 13 months ago at a marijuana farm at Lacey, approximately 10 miles west of Hennessey on state Highway 51.
Kevin Paul Pham, Alexander Shiang Lin Chang, and Richard Gregorio Ignacio were indicted on Dec. 8, individually or collectively, on charges of conspiracy, filing false or forged documents, illegal manufacturing of marijuana, trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of a firearm after multiple prior felony convictions, financial transactions involving proceeds of fraudulent activities, and engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses.
All three defendants appeared in Kingfisher County District Court, pleaded not guilty and were released on bond.
Chang, 48, is charged with conspiracy and with engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses in Kingfisher and Oklahoma counties between Dec. 30, 2019, and Jan. 17, 2023. His bond was set at $100,000 and was posted by Bobby Brawdy of El Reno, a bondsman for Clint Pletcher of Shawnee. Chang is represented by attorney Jeffrey J. Box of Oklahoma City.
Ignacio, 36, of northwest Oklahoma City, is charged with one count of conspiracy, six counts of filing false or forged instruments, aggravated manufacturing of marijuana, and participating in a pattern of criminal offenses. His bond was set at $20,000 and was posted by Oklahoma City bondsman Robert Hawkins. Ignacio is represented by Oklahoma City attorney Justin Lowe.
Ignacio also was billed $290.41 for six days he spent incarcerated in the county jail, plus $32.27 for a Kingfisher County District Attorney fee and a $32.27 fee for the county court clerk’s revolving fund.
Pham, 47, of Oklahoma City, is named in all 13 counts: conspiracy; six counts of filing false or forged instruments; aggravated manufacturing of marijuana, classified as a controlled dangerous substance; trafficking in methamphetamine discovered in his Oklahoma City accounting office when Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs agents served a search warrant there on Nov. 22, 2022; possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; possession of four guns and “a significant amount of ammunition” in his office after multiple former felony convictions; participating in financial transactions that involved proceeds of illegal activities; and engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses.
Although Attorney General Gentner Drummond cited several reasons why the court should set Pham’s bond at $1 million, Associate District Judge Lance E. Schneiter on Dec. 12 set Pham’s bond at $100,000.
The judge ordered Pham to have no contact with his co-defendants nor with any potential witnesses in the case, imposed an 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and ordered Pham to wear an ankle monitor intended to keep him in Oklahoma County except for his court appearances in Kingfisher.
Bond for Pham was posted by Shawn McClanahan of Oklahoma City, on behalf of Howard McClanahan of Idabel. Pham is represented by Oklahoma City attorney Marco Palumbo.
All three defendants are to return to Kingfisher’s district court on Jan. 12, 2024.
Citing Pham’s record,
AG proposed $1M bond
Assistant Attorney General Taylor Brown informed Judge Schneiter that Pham “prepared and presented” falsified documents to the OBNDD regarding the owners of the Liu & Chen marijuana farm at Lacey, where four people were murdered and a fifth was wounded on Nov. 22, 2022.
Pham’s documents claimed the owners of Liu & Chen Inc. were Richard Ignacio and Yifei Lin; the latter was shot and wounded in the attack blamed on Chen Wu, of Hennessey.
Pham “repeatedly prepared and submitted … knowingly false documentation” to state agencies in order to establish marijuana farms throughout the state “that are owned and operated by non-residents, contrary to the laws of Oklahoma,” Brown reported. Those fake owners live in other states, including Massachusetts, Iowa, Virginia and California, according to the OBNDD.
Pham has “directly aided or promoted the formation and operation of numerous illegal grows throughout Oklahoma” that are “diverting massive amounts of dangerous controlled substances out of the state,” Brown wrote.
Moreover, Brown noted, Pham has been convicted of 21 felony crimes in Oklahoma dating back to 1997, when he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary. In 2002 he was charged with operating a motor vehicle “chop shop” in Oklahoma County and subsequently was convicted.
On Feb. 28, 2006, Pham pleaded guilty to nine counts of burglary and 10 counts of concealing stolen property in a case filed in 2003. He received a suspended seven-year prison sentence on the burglary charges and a five-year suspended prison sentence on the stolen property charges. However, he was ordered to serve 52 weekends at Avalon Correctional Services in Oklahoma City and to pay restitution.
State drug agents raided Pham’s accounting office in Oklahoma City two days after the quadruple homicide at the Lacey marijuana farm in November 2022. Pham “represents a serious threat to the community,” Brown asserted.
Pham is registered agent
for a Chickasha entity
Pham is listed as the registered agent for Blessed Chickasha Collective.
Blessed Chickasha Collective sued Chickasha businessman and property owner Brannan Bordwine individually; his Bordwine Urban and Rural Development LLC; Bordwine 963PPRD; and Bordwine Development LLC; along with Liquid Latitude LLC a/k/a Latitude Liquids LLC.
The plaintiff sued for negligence and breach of contract because of a fire in August 2022 that consumed a large volume of flammable hand sanitizer “improperly stored” at the former Chickasha Manufacturing site, 5501 S. Fourth Street (U.S. Highway 81 and state Highway 19).
Bordwine “entered into an oral lease” of that property from Blessed Chickasha Collective in June 2022. A condition of the lease was that Bordwine’s operations were to be conducted “in a safe manner which would protect [the] property from damage.”
The fire broke out on Aug. 7, 2022, and burned for several days. Methanol-laced hand sanitizer at the site was so volatile that when the fire erupted, cast-iron lids on two manholes were blown off and the municipal sanitary sewer briefly caught fire from sanitizer that flowed into the line, state and local fire officials reported.
During the fire, a warehouse at the site and its contents were “a total loss” and flames consumed all hand sanitizer stored at the site, the State Fire Marshal’s office confirmed. The building reportedly encompassed approximately 100,000 square feet of space.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 9, 2023, by Oklahoma City attorney R. Lyle Clemens and was still pending in Grady County District Court on Dec. 17.
Southwest Ledger called the offices of Clemens and Pham on March 29 and left messages, asking whether they have any knowledge of what Blessed Chickasha Collective does and who its principals are. Neither Pham nor Clemens returned the Ledger’s phone calls.
Details about Blessed Chickasha Collective are scant, although records of the Oklahoma Secretary of State show it is a domestic limited liability company incorporated on Dec. 16, 2020.
Ignacio, too, linked
to marijuana farm
In addition to the grand jury indictments against him, Ignacio was charged with conspiracy in Kingfisher County District Court on Dec. 21, 2022.
Ignacio is alleged to be a “straw” or “ghost” owner – on paper only – of the 10-acre marijuana farm at Lacey. He is accused of conspiring with Yifei Lin to fraudulently obtain a marijuana grow license and registration for the Liu & Chen marijuana grow operation.
Ignacio “falsely and fraudulently obtained the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority license and registration from the OBNDD” that were required to grow and sell marijuana in Oklahoma.
He lied when he claimed 75% ownership in Liu & Chen Inc. “in order to meet the residency ownership requirements for licensing and manufacturing” under Oklahoma state law, the felony charge alleges.
“I would be on the license and get paid $2,000 a month for it,” Ignacio admitted in a written statement. Court documents also say he lent his name to six Oklahoma marijuana farms, which netted him more than $100,000 in two years. Ignacio subsequently surrendered all of his illegally obtained licenses, the OBNDD reported.
On Dec. 5, 2023, Ignacio informed the court he intended to plead guilty to that charge and pay $10,450 in fines and costs. Eight days later, though, he submitted a motion to withdraw his guilty plea; that issue, too, is to be considered on Jan. 12.
Alleged killer remains
in Kingfisher Co. jail
Chen Wu, alias Wu Chen, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon in the attack on the Lacey marijuana farm.
Wu, 46, of Hennessey, remained in the Kingfisher County Jail on Dec. 17. His preliminary hearing has been continued to Feb. 9, 2024.
Prosecutors and the defense “have been working to establish contact” with witnesses to the event. However, it has been “uncommonly difficult “ because the witnesses are immigrant Chinese laborers, several of them have moved from the Hennessey area “to find work elsewhere,” and interviewing the witnesses is complicated “owing to an English-Mandarin language barrier,” Judge Schneiter was informed.