A Brooklyn Center man who tried to smuggle more than 100 kilograms of marijuana into the state disguised as produce has been sentenced to six years in prison, prosecutors said.
Steven Yang, 27, appeared Friday before Hennepin County District Judge Gina Brandt, who sentenced him to 74 months in prison, according to the county attorney's office. In October, Yang pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree sale of 50 or more kilos of pot under a bargain with prosecutors that dropped a count of first-degree possession, a news release said.
Last January, police were called to a warehouse at 2700 E. 28th St. in Minneapolis after employees discovered a large amount of marijuana hidden in a produce shipment addressed to Yang, according to prosecutors.
Yang was arrested when he came to pick up the package, authorities said. When police took a closer look at the shipment, they discovered 260 individually wrapped one-pound packages of pot, totaling about 110 kilos — an amount that authorities estimated could have fetched $910,000 to $1.5 million on the streets.
In arguing for a more lenient sentence Friday, Yang's attorney, Sia Lo, cast his client as a good and hardworking man who has attended college and been caring for his sick father, the release said. Furthermore, he pointed out that Yang had fully cooperated with law enforcement throughout the investigation.
A message left for Lo on Friday afternoon wasn't immediately returned.
