A man from the Atlanta area was handed a five-year prison sentence Wednesday for his role in a home-invasion robbery in December 2016 that left a Southern Oregon marijuana grower tied up and badly beaten.
Edward A. Molet, 27, one of eight suspects charged with raiding BlueSky Gardens and torturing grower James A. Bowman, avoided a mandatory-minimum prison sentence under Oregon's Measure 11 after pleading guilty to felony counts of second-degree robbery and first-degree burglary in Jackson County Circuit Court. The robbery charge normally carries a 70-month sentence.
Molet, who has an address in Columbus, Georgia, is the second of eight named suspects to plead guilty, and the first to get prison. Police say the men stormed Bowman's farm wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles masks and loaded up a box truck with six figures' worth of processed marijuana.
Molet made a short apology during the hearing.
"I'd like to send a sincere apology to the victim," Molet said. "I really am sorry for being caught up in this mess."
There's no evidence that Molet participated in Bowman's beating and torture during the home-invasion robbery, according to Deputy District Attorney Marco Boccato, who called the investigation a "fairly complicated case with a lot of moving parts."
Among terms in the plea agreement, Molet will be required to "testify truthfully" should he be called as a witness in upcoming trials related to the case. Boccato said the break from Measure 11 sentencing applies only to Molet.
Other suspects, who weren't specified during the hearing, believed Bowman had cash on the property, and they tortured him and destroyed property trying to find it.
"He didn't (have cash), so essentially they just left him there," Boccato said.
The crime involved at least one local planner, but most of the robbers flew from the Atlanta area, according to Boccato.
In court, Circuit Court Judge Tim Barnack asked Boccato whether people coming from outside the area because of Oregon's legalization of recreational marijuana is something "we need to be concerned about."
Boccato said yes, adding the BlueSky Gardens case involved "a substantial amount of money" and "more experienced criminal actors." Investigating the case has not been simple, requiring analysis of hotel records among other evidence.
Only one suspect currently has a trial date: Derrick Earl Shields, 27, of Columbus, Georgia. Shields previously has stated in letters to the court that he has an alibi, claiming he was with a woman in Northern California the night of the robbery. Shields has been lodged in the Jackson County Jail since July 11, 2017, on $500,000 bail, jail records show.
Frank William Foremski of Gold Hill was sentenced to probation in April after pleading guilty to felony counts of first-degree burglary and aggravated first-degree theft, but a second-degree robbery charge is still pending. Court records show that Foremski has requested that restitution — related to a tow bill and marijuana losses, among other damages Bowman incurred — not be imposed until his case fully resolves. His next hearing is set for Feb. 12.
Arrest warrants have been issued for five other suspects after they failed to make court appearances in the case late last year: Jody Deville Reynolds, Christopher Tyrone Osborne, Charles James Hatchett and Leonta Flowers, all of Columbus, Georgia, and Dennis Reynolds of Medford, court records show.
— Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or nmorgan@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.