Virginia state senator Lillie Louise Lucas was indicted Thursday on five charges that include Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, Fraud, and Firearms Charges after being accused of running a marijuana distribution enterprise, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lucas is among seven indicted in the sprawling racketeering scheme, a group that includes her two daughters Lisa Lucas Burke and Theresa Lucas Lamb and her grandson Ryan Eichelberger, Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a Thursday press conference.
“Louise Lucas has served in a position of public trust in the Commonwealth of Virginia for over three decades,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a DOJ statement.
“The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve. Our federal prosecutors will continue to be guided by the facts and evidence that led a grand jury to indict Ms. Lucas and her alleged co-conspirators.”
The 82-year-old Lucas had served as a Virginia state senator since 1991, and as the president pro tempore of the state’s senate since 2020. As president pro tempore, she served as the presiding member of the state senate in the absence of the state’s lieutenant governor.
She also served as chair of the state’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee since 2024.
“Through her elected office, Senator Lucas has been a public servant of the people of Virginia. Her first duty should have been looking out for her constituents before herself, but the charges listed in the indictment reflect the alleged behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve,” Blanche said Thursday.
The DOJ said Lucas led the Lucas Enterprise with a close-knit group of friends and family that included her two daughters and a grandson.
“[They] orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, âthe Lucas Enterprise,’ using Lucasâ position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement.
Lucas, who has served as a Virginia state senator since 1991, was directly involved in a wide range of activities within the enterprise, including the acquisition and distribution of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and for the laundering of the drug sales proceeds, the DOJ said.
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This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.