Attorney focus in grow site case

Mar. 29—Questions back and forth focused on whether or not a Yukon attorney crossed the line on ownerships he helped set up for medical marijuana grow sites in multiple places that include Garvin County.

Actively huddling with his legal team and assisting them was Matt Stacy, 43, as the third and fourth days of his preliminary hearing were held last week in a Pauls Valley courtroom.

Stacy faces a couple dozen criminal charges of helping to falsify the majority owners of marijuana grow sites in different counties as a way to provide them with the legal status needed to continue operations.

One of the witnesses fielding questions was Jeremy Grable, a marijuana grower at a site that once operated in the Moore area.

"I was in charge of cultivation — the head grower," Grable said, adding he previously learned his trade in Oregon and California.

Grable said he and two partners hired Stacy back in August 2020 to help them get through the legal steps needed to begin growing marijuana in Oklahoma.

"We talked to him to see if we met the criteria to get a grow license," he said, referring to Stacy.

"He told us we needed a resident to grow in Oklahoma. He told us he had a resident he could supply us with."

One of the requirements for a grow site to be legal is an Oklahoma resident needs to own at least 75 percent of the operation.

Agents with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) allege Stacy paid residents to be "ghost owners" of grow sites for Chinese organized crime operations and other out-of-state clients.

"After he told us he could get a resident it really wasn't relevant," Grable said about the idea of approaching his own family members in Oklahoma to step in as majority owner of the site.

"There was not a lot of persuasion. We were eager to get into Oklahoma, and he was giving us a solution.

"He never told us who it was," he said, referring to the individual who did serve as the site's main owner.

Grable said he was later told the Moore site had received a license to grow from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) site.

"(Stacy) told us we had an approved number," Grable said.

He claims at the time he didn't know the site did not actually have a required OBN license.

Then in July 2021 he said Stacy sent them an email instructing them to destroy all marijuana plants already grown.

"We thought everything was on track. We didn't see a reason why we would have to stop," Grable said.

"I thought we were finished. He guaranteed us we'd get a license to grow. I was under the impression we only needed one license," he said, adding it was later he learned an OBN license was also needed for the grow site to be legal.

The day after Grable's testimony another marijuana grower, Guanrong Yang, used a Chinese translator to describe his dealings with Stacy as his group hired the attorney in September 2020 to help them get a "grow license."

The following summer Yang said he met with Stacy at his Yukon office.

"I didn't know exactly, but I knew it related to my license," Yang said when asked what that meeting in July 2021 was all about.

"Do you remember Mr. Stacy telling you that you can't legally grow marijuana," asked Stacy's lead defense attorney Joe White.

"I don't remember," Yang said.

During the March 23 hearing a brief recording of the meeting was played with Garvin County Special District Judge Trisha Misak out of the courtroom.

"You'll hear Mr. Stacy tell him a number of times that he can't grow marijuana legally," White said moments before the recording was played.

"It's illegal to operate without getting a license," Stacy said in the recording.

Stacy could be heard telling Yang that OBN would no longer allow a legal grow site without an Oklahoma owner.

"He did tell me but I didn't understand," Yang testified afterwards, adding he told Stacy he was renting out his property for others to grow marijuana.

"I had a renter and he had the license, so I believed I had a license."

With the state attorney general's office now overseeing the case, prosecutor Travis White quizzed Yang during his testimony.

Yang claimed he talked to Stacy about residential requirements for the grow site but doesn't remember details.

"Who got you a local resident for the purposes of an OMMA license and OBN license," White asked.

"The attorney helped me, attorney Stacy," Yang said. "I hired him to get me a license."

"Did that include a local resident," White then asked of the witness.

"I paid him $40,000 or so to get me a license, so I believe so," Yang said in response.

White finished by asking, "Do you recall Mr. Stacy telling you it was illegal to grow marijuana after July 2021."

"He told me it was illegal but not criminal," Yang said. "I didn't understand."

Yang's grow site was later raided as it's believed he is now facing a couple of criminal charges, including trafficking.

Stacy's preliminary hearing in Garvin County is scheduled to continue with a couple of dates in May.