VA State Senator Indicted For Drug Trafficking

Virginia state senator Lillie Louise Lucas was indicted on eight counts, include Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, Fraud, and Firearms

Lucas was accused of running a marijuana distribution enterprise, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Lucas and six others were indicted in the racketeering scheme.

"Louise Lucas has served in a position of public trust in the Commonwealth of Virginia for over three decades," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a DOJ statement.

"The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve. Our federal prosecutors will continue to be guided by the facts and evidence that led a grand jury to indict Ms. Lucas and her alleged co-conspirators."

The DOJ said Lucas, 82, led the Lucas Enterprise with a close-knit group of friends and family. This includes her two daughters and a grandson.

"[They] orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, the ‘Lucas Enterprise’ and using Lucas’ position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves," FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement.

Lucas has served as a Virginia state senator since 1991. She was directly involved in a wide range of activities within the enterprise, including the acquisition and distribution of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and for the laundering of the drug sales proceeds, the DOJ said.