Palmdale Contractor Found Guilty in Pot Farm Case

A Palmdale contractor faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for financing a sophisticated underground marijuana farm raided in the Antelope Valley last year, the U. S. attorney’s office said Friday.

After deliberating for three hours, a federal court jury in Los Angeles on Thursday found Richard E. Yerger, 61, guilty of conspiracy to possess marijuana and possession with intent to distribute the drug. Both counts stemmed from a federal grand jury indictment filed in January.

Yerger, who remained in custody without bail, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30. Federal officials said Yerger’s farm in Llano, a tiny community east of Palmdale, could have produced more than $35-million worth of marijuana annually. But it was raided Nov. 16, before the first harvest.

Authorities said Yerger’s farm apparently copied the three similar farms--one in Lancaster and two in Bullhead City, Ariz.--organized by Lancaster plumbing contractor Frank Gegax. The federal indictment against Yerger charged that he bought the five-acre Llano property in October, 1989, and financed construction of a house at 31440 Largo Vista Road in February, 1990. In the November raid there, authorities said they seized about 4,000 marijuana seedlings and small plants.

Most of the plants were cultivated in hydroponic--soilless--garden bins in a basement equipped with sunlamps and an automatic watering system. Yerger’s attorney contended that his client was framed by two accomplices, both Antelope Valley men, who testified against him in exchange for leniency.

Frank Bell, 30, charged in the same two-count indictment as Yerger, pleaded guilty to one count in March as part of a plea bargain. Lawrence Daggy, 40, an unindicted co-conspirator in Yerger’s case, pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Phoenix case. Both await sentencing.

With Yerger’s conviction and Bell’s plea, 15 of the 16 people charged by federal officials in connection with the Antelope Valley and Arizona farms have been found guilty. Gegax, Daggy and 11 others pleaded guilty to federal charges in Phoenix. One has been sentenced and the others await sentencing. One man in the Phoenix case remains a fugitive.