Leader of $100M pot ring sentenced to 20 years in prison

October 28, 2009 at 12:17p.m.

COLUMBUS (AP) — The leader of an operation federal authorities said smuggled more than $100 million worth of marijuana to Ohio has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Donald Dailey Jr. broke down as he apologized to family members and said what he did “wasn’t worth it” before his sentencing Tuesday in Columbus. U.S. District Judge Michael Watson also charged Dailey $5,400 in fines and other costs.

Forty-year-old Dailey, from Pataskala in central Ohio, pleaded guilty in March to charges including operating a continuing criminal enterprise. Investigators say he led a ring that brought drugs from Arizona to central Ohio in recreational vehicles.

Agents said a March 2008 raid on his Dailey’s home turned up $3.2 million in cash and more than a ton of marijuana.