A former Milwaukie man was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison for illegally exporting marijuana grown in Oregon to Georgia for resale and laundering the proceeds, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Oregon.
Dante Baldocchi, 30, who currently lives in Altadena, California, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and four years of supervised release.
According to court documents, between January 2017 and June 2020, Baldocchi purchased marijuana in Oregon and arranged to have it shipped via freight to Georgia, where he and others sold it to distributors in the Atlanta area and in North Carolina.
Officials said Baldocchi and his associates shipped portions of the proceeds from Georgia back to Oregon in vacuum-sealed bags and other portions concealed in buckets of drywall spackle.
According to the U.S. attorney, a federal search warrant was executed on Baldocchi’s then-home in Milwaukie on June 9, 2020. That’s where investigators found more than 330 pounds of marijuana.
On August 19, 2021, Baldocchi and an associate — Hunter Lacaden, 27, of Portland — were charged with criminal information for conspiring to distribute marijuana and commit money laundering.
On October 13, 2021, Baldocchi pleaded guilty to both charges.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office on September 21, 2021, Lacaden pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute marijuana. Then on March 28, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug of the District of Oregon made the announcement.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and IRS-Criminal Investigation with assistance from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Bureau. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia E. Jarrett prosecuted the case.
