Sentencing deferred on Oklahoma man's plea to gun, marijuana charges
Dec. 15—An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty this week in Jasper County Circuit Court to felony marijuana and weapon charges in a plea agreement requiring him to enter a program for veterans in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.
Jonathan P. Long, 37, of Bixby, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty Monday to unlawful use of a weapon and possession of marijuana stemming from a traffic stop March 27 on Interstate 44 near Joplin by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper.
The trooper stopped a pickup truck Long was driving for failing to maintain a lane and smelled marijuana in the vehicle, according to a probable-cause affidavit. He at first said he did not have any marijuana in the vehicle and consented to a search that turned up a pistol between the center console and driver's seat and a pound of pot beneath the rear passenger seat, according to the affidavit.
The document states that Long told the trooper he works for a marijuana farm in Oklahoma and delivers medical marijuana to dispensaries and had forgotten he had an extra pound, which he was supposed to have returned.
Circuit Judge Gayle Crane deferred sentencing of the defendant on the two convictions on condition that he enter and complete a program for veterans in the state where he resides.
