A 63-year-old jelly and jam vendor from Lander is accused of hauling six pounds of methamphetamine and 29 pounds of dumpster-scrounged marijuana from the area of Las Vegas, Nevada, to Shoshoni, Wyoming.
Mary Renee Weymouth pleaded not guilty on Thursday, to five felony drug charges. These include:
• Conspiracy to deliver meth (punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines).
• Possession with intent to deliver meth (up to 20 years and $25,000).
• Felony meth possession (up to seven years and $15,000).
• Possession with intent to deliver marijuana (up to 10 years and $10,000).
• Felony-level marijuana possession (up to five years and $10,000).
First The Jelly
Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Ryan Wangberg met Weymouth at a farmer’s market in Fremont County this autumn. He also believed from an earlier investigation that she was selling methamphetamine, he testified at Weymouth’s Nov. 19 preliminary hearing in Lander Circuit Court Judge Jefferson Coombs’ courtroom.
She gave him her business card at the farmer’s market, he added.
He started texting her Oct. 29, “trying to obtain controlled substances, specifically methamphetamine,” Wangberg testified.
On Oct. 31, she called him and told him he’d receive another phone call within the next hour.
“If she doesn’t call you within the next hour let me know and I’ll take care of it,” Weymouth said, according to Wangberg’s testimony.
About 15 minutes later, another woman who called herself “Crystal” called. Wangberg let another agent speak with her, he told the court.
The undercover agent and “Crystal” talked about costs and amounts. She said a “zip” or an ounce of meth would cost $700, according to Wangberg’s testimony.
Wangberg launched into another long text conversation, this time with the woman who called herself “Crystal.”
Meanwhile, he wrote a search warrant to obtain cellphone ping location data on Weymouth’s phone.
The phone was in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, Wangberg testified.
“Through the investigation I received information that Ms. Weymouth had a source and supply for controlled substance in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area,” he added.
On Nov. 11, or 10 days later, the phone’s pings showed it was returning to Wyoming and also texting with the phone number associated with “Crystal.”
“I had a pretty good idea it wasn’t Crystal,” said Wangberg. “The female had sent a picture of herself to me.”
He researched the phone number and photograph and identified the woman as Cathy Gordon, 54.
Gordon is also facing drug charges: one count of conspiracy to deliver meth, another of felony meth possession, a third of possession with intent to deliver marijuana and a fourth of felony marijuana possession.
She pleaded not guilty on Thursday as well.
That Reek
DCI agents followed the pings to Shoshoni, to Gordon’s house.
One agent was already in the area. Wangberg arrived sometime later, to find a white Nissan Frontier truck attached to an eight-foot trailer, he said.
In the bed of the truck sat multiple baskets of pomegranates, Wangberg testified. He seemed unsurprised by this, adding that Gordon, alias “Crystal,” had texted Wangberg earlier that they were picking pomegranates. He also saw “a bunch of cookie tins” and a white Styrofoam cooler in the bed of the truck. All these contained raw marijuana, Wangberg noted.
“Standing outside in the street, where the truck and trailer were parked you could smell the raw marijuana,” he said.
Weymouth consented to the search of her truck and trailer, the agent said. She also admitted to having nearly six pounds of methamphetamine, he added.
Wangberg said agents also seized about 29 pounds of raw marijuana, albeit cut with mulch and other substances.
Dumpster Diving
An interesting thing about the marijuana, said Wangberg, is that it may have been the product of some rigorous dumpster diving.
Weymouth had told him the prior night that she and someone else had gotten the marijuana out of dumpsters, the agent said.
“I heard in a training that in different states where marijuana is legal, dispensaries will dispose of marijuana and sometimes mix it with a mulch or some chemical to deter people from going in the dumpsters and retrieving it,” said Wangberg. “Some (of this marijuana) appeared to be mixed with more mulch and (in) trash bags.”
It looked like Weymouth’s claim of dumpster diving for marijuana was accurate, Wangberg observed in court.
Weymouth’s public defense attorney Zachary Mahlum at first cast doubt upon this find, asking whether agents tested the marijuana to see whether it was actually hemp, which he indicated could be used as mulch.
Wangberg later clarified that agents field-tested some of the meth, and the marijuana, and they tested positive for those substances respectively.
Ties To The Community
Mahlum ultimately conceded that the prosecutor had shown enough probable cause to keep prosecuting Weymouth on the five counts.
But he disputed her high bond of $25,000 cash-only, saying she couldn’t afford it. He asked the court to lower her bond to $4,500 because she’s not charged with violent crimes, has ties to the community and wished to get back to her jelly business before her products expire.
Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun objected, saying the bond was fine where it was.
Coombs agreed with the prosecutor, saying, “Six pounds of meth is a significant danger to the community.”
Both Weymouth’s and Gordon’s trials are set for March 17, in Fremont County District Court.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
