William B. Mabry, 45, of Boise, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday in United States District Court to count four of the indictment charging him with conspiracy to launder money, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
In court yesterday, Mabry admitted that beginning in March 2011, he knowingly entered into a conspiracy with other individuals to conduct financial transactions in connection with a “spice” manufacturing and distribution business. Mabry admitted that he knowingly participated and assisted in the financial activity of the business by engaging in bank and other financial transactions, through both domestic and foreign financial institutions. The transactions consisted of the proceeds of prior illegal spice sales and other specified unlawful activity and, in many cases, the transactions conducted through financial institutions separately consisted of criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000; most of the transactions occurred in Idaho, Washington and California…
The indictment alleges that between March 1, 2011 and July 9, 2012, within the states of Idaho, Alaska, California, Washington, and Wisconsin, the defendants conspired to purchase and import from China chemicals known as AM2201, UR-144, and XLR11, which they used to treat innocuous plant matter to make “spice”—a synthetic cannabinoid similar to substances listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The indictment further alleges that one or more of the defendants conspired to sell and transport drug paraphernalia for sale, and that they conspired to launder money illegally obtained through their drug, importation and paraphernalia violations. The government is seeking forfeiture of proceeds derived from the alleged criminal activities.
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