As far as American retirement plans go, drug trafficking really isn't any different from a standard 401(k): tax exempt, high risk and high reward.
Authorities seized almost $300,000 cash and a heaping sack of marijuana from a septuagenarian in Oklahoma this week. Darlene Mayes (pictured below), 73, was arrested and charged with multiple felonies including possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
“She didn’t say much,” Craig County Sheriff Jimmie Sooter told the Tulsa World Newspaper. “She said the money was hers, and that it was for retirement. Of course, once we got into it, it was pretty obvious it wasn’t hers.”
Many senior citizens use marijuana to treat chronic pain or as an anti anxiety medication. The presence of the firearms and cash, however, suggests that Mayes' main intention was profit.
Law enforcement in Oklahoma had conducted months of surveillance on Mayes before making the bust. Despite their prior information on the case, they were still shocked at just how involved this retired Department of Human Services worker was in the drug trade.
“It was an extreme wow moment,” said Vinita Police Chief Bobby Floyd. “We think we really put a big dent in the drug trade in Northeastern Oklahoma.”
