93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
A marijuana lobbyist in Columbia is indicted as part of an alleged large conspiracy to distribute at least a thousand kilograms of weed in Boone County.
Eapen Thampy and two others from out of state were indicted last week for the conspiracy, which authorities say happened between 2015 and 2018.
Thampy has worked for more than a dozen pro-marijuana groups and has donated thousands to Missouri campaigns over the past few years.
Prosecutors say the conspiracy is also connected to the death of Augustus Roberts at a home by Old Hawthorne golf course in east Columbia in 2017. Roberts was killed during a home invasion, and hundreds of pounds of high-grade marijuana were stolen from a truck parked in his driveway.
There have now been nine people indicted in the case, including Columbia’s Coffee Zone owner Osama Yanis and his son Nader, who pleaded guilty in January.
A detention hearing was scheduled Wednesday for Thampy.
(This story was last updated at 6:43 a.m. Wednesday.)
