The 82-year-old Senate president pro tempore and chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee is among seven defendants named in an eight-count federal indictment.
Virginia Democratic state Sen. Louise Lucas was indicted Thursday for allegedly leading a multimillion-dollar marijuana trafficking enterprise involving members of her family and using her political power to protect the operation and pursue legislation benefiting it.
The 82-year-old Senate president pro tempore and chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee is among seven defendants named in an eight-count federal indictment. Prosecutors allege offenses involving racketeering, marijuana distribution, money laundering, bribery-related honest services fraud, drug-involved premises, firearms, and wire fraud, according to the Justice Department.
FBI Director Kash Patel described the alleged operation as a five-year scheme worth an estimated $4.5 million. Prosecutors say Lucas directed the acquisition and distribution of at least 100 kilograms of marijuana and supervised the laundering of proceeds.
The alleged organization, identified by prosecutors as the “Lucas Enterprise,” included a close-knit group of relatives and associates, including Lucas’ two daughters and her grandson.
Lucas was elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991 and has served as president pro tempore since 2020. Her finance committee oversees the state budget, tax policy, and expenditures. Prosecutors allege she used her position to shield the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influence legislation for its financial benefit.
“The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
The allegations include a $750,000 transaction in August 2022, when Lucas allegedly purchased a company holding a co-conspirator’s anticipated Virginia recreational marijuana license. Prosecutors say she failed to disclose that ownership interest on required financial disclosure forms.
Lucas allegedly received a partial repayment during a meeting with the co-conspirator at her office in the Capitol complex. Prosecutors further allege she discussed the co-conspirator’s eligibility for a recreational marijuana license with legislators and other officials, tying her intervention to receipt of a bribery payment.
The indictment also details the family’s involvement in two cannabis businesses.
Lucas and her daughter, Lisa Lucas-Burke, opened The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth in 2021. Another daughter, Theresa Lucas-Lamb, and Lucas-Lamb’s son, Ryan Eichelberger, allegedly obtained marijuana, oversaw its distribution, and managed the outlet for the enterprise.
Lucas’ business partner, Carlton Upton Jr., 54, of Chesapeake, was involved in VA Freedom Life, the umbrella business for The CBD Shoppe and The Cannabis Outlet, beginning in 2019. He also managed The CBD Shoppe and allegedly worked with Lucas to secure a recreational marijuana license benefiting the operation.
Separately, prosecutors allege Upton submitted materially false statements on an April 2020 application for a federal Economic Injury Disaster Loan. The business received $11,800.
FBI agents executed search warrants at The Cannabis Outlet and The CBD Shoppe on May 6, recovering marijuana and firearms at both locations, according to the Justice Department.
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