By Andrew J. Campa
Los Angeles Times
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal grand jury in Oakland indicted nine people on a slew of drug and conspiracy charges related to a series of burglaries at a marijuana grow facility in 2023 that led to the death of an undercover police officer, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.
Federal prosecutors allege that over the course of about four hours on Dec. 29, 2023 the group burglarized a waterfront grow facility located on Embarcadero in Oakland, leaving with at least 100 marijuana plants. Allen Brown, Sebron Russell and Marquise Cooper allegedly organized the armed burglaries, recruiting Janiero Booth, Jowaun Jones, Shawn McGee and Salvador Munguia to help them throughout the morning, according to the indictment.
Brown, Russell, Cooper, Booth, Jones, McGee and Munguia are charged with conspiring to distribute, possession with intent to distribute, and attempting to possess with intent to distribute more than 100 marijuana plants, the indictment states.
Brown is also charged with discharging a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime. Russell is charged with brandishing a firearm. Jasmine Kumar, the suspected gunman’s girlfriend, and his mother Felicia Sanders, were charged with accessory after the fact for allegedly helping to prevent his apprehension, including providing him with a one-way plane ticket, according to the Department of Justice.
Attorneys representing the group could not immediately be reached for comment.
Federal prosecutors allege that while the group had stolen marijuana from the unit twice during those early morning hours, it was their third visit that turned deadly.
Shortly before 4:30 a.m., when the group returned to burglarize the unit again, Oakland officers responded to the scene.
Officer Tuan Le and his partner, who rode together in an unmarked white truck, pulled into the parking lot and saw a group running toward vehicles. A person, identified in the indictment only as co-conspirator 1, brandished a black pistol while fleeing the scene, the document states.
The suspects left in multiple cars, according to the indictment, and were chased by Le and other officers.
Brown drove one of the vehicles and the unnamed co-conspirator, sitting in the passenger seat, fired at least 20 shots into Le’s truck, ultimately striking the 36-year-old, according to the indictment. Le died at nearby Highland Hospital.
All nine defendants are in custody and made their initial appearance in a federal district court in San Francisco on Thursday. They are set to return for bail hearings on Monday.
Alameda County prosecutors charged Cooper, Brown, Russell and Mark Sanders with murder in connection to Le’s death last year. The murder charge against Cooper was dismissed after a judge determined during a preliminary hearing that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to support the charge.
Brown, Russell and Sanders have pleaded not guilty, according to court records.
If convicted of all charges in the indictment, the seven men face decades in prison. Kumar and Sanders face a maximum of 15 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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