Former Jacksonville, Oregon Residents Sentenced for Interstate Distribution of Marijuana, Money Laundering

PORTLAND, Ore.—Two former Jacksonville, Oregon residents were sentenced today in federal court for their roles in a conspiracy to traffic marijuana grown in Southern Oregon to Georgia, Illinois, and North Carolina, and launder the proceeds.

Alex David Koplin, 34, was sentenced to 31 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release and Tina Marie Waterfield, 38, was sentenced to 5 years of probation.

According to court documents, in approximately 2011, Koplin moved from Georgia to Oregon to work in the marijuana industry. Within a few years, he purchased property in Jackson County, Oregon and started a marijuana farm. Koplin worked with other marijuana growers to combine harvests, broker sales, and transport marijuana from Oregon to other states. Between November 2014 and June 2016, Koplin coordinated the sale and interstate transport of approximately 260 kilograms of marijuana.

While investigating the interstate trafficking conspiracy, authorities discovered Waterfield, Koplin’s then-girlfriend, was receiving thousands of dollars in out-of-state payments to her PayPal account. Investigators later learned that Waterfield unlawfully manufactured, sold, and shipped marijuana edibles to East Coast customers and laundered the proceeds in an attempt to conceal their source. Between 2013 and 2016, Waterfield’s bank accounts showed approximately $494,000 in unexplained deposits.

In April 2017, investigators executed a federal search warrant on Koplin and Waterfield’s residence and seized marijuana plants; unprocessed cut marijuana; butane honey oil, a cannabis extract; and $44,226 in U.S. currency.

On August 19, 2019, both defendants pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Koplin also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

As part of his plea agreement, Koplin agreed to pay $150,000 to satisfy a forfeiture money judgment. Waterfield agreed to forfeit the $44,226 in U.S. currency seized from the residence she shared with Koplin.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Medford Police Department. It was prosecuted by Steven T. Mygrant and Julia E. Jarrett, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.

This case was brought as part of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, the centerpiece of the department’s strategy for reducing the availability of drugs in the U.S. OCDETF was established in 1982 to mount a comprehensive attack on drug trafficking by disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in coordination with state and local law enforcement.