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Florida woman to enter plea in multi-million dollar pot case

• Government prosecutors expect more guilty pleas to come in the "1000 plant conspiracy."

J.D. Sumner

MACON — A Florida woman charged in connection with a multi-million dollar marijuana manufacturing operation discovered last year is expected to plead guilty to obstruction charges today in federal court, authorities said.

Margaret Elizabeth Shaw was indicted by a federal grand jury for concealing a marijuana grow operation from federal agents.

According to officials with the clerk’s office of the U.S. District Court’s Middle District of Georgia, Shaw is expected to enter a guilty plea before Chief Judge Hugh Lawson at 9:30 a.m. today at the federal courthouse in Macon.

Indicted alongside Shaw were Trey Fulford, Brian Pellicano, Michael True and Charlotte Spencer, who were all charged with hindering the government’s investigation of the grow operation that would eventually lead investigators to homes in Lee and Terrell counties, Atlanta, Panama City, Fla., and Franklin, N.C. The raids resulted in the seizure of millions of dollars worth of drugs, guns and property in what investigators have dubbed the “1000 plant conspiracy.”

Weyman Harris, Anthony Rutkauskas, Michael Suber, Frank Spring, Dean Slaymaker and Henry Pouillot have all been charged in connection with operation.

Rutkauskas and Pellicano have already been convicted or pleaded guilty of their charges and officials with the U.S. Attorney’s office said Wednesday they expect more guilty pleas to be coming in the investigation that could involve upwards of 40 defendants.

Shaw was arrested in February by U.S. Marshals in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and was extradited to Albany to face charges.

Both federal judges in Albany have recused themselves from the case, requiring all of the defendants to be handled in the Middle District of Georgia’s Columbus or Macon courts.

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