Two get prison terms for LV drug operation

Smokable products manufactured here

Two men were sentenced Wednesday to 20 years each in federal prison after they were found guilty of manufacturing synthetic cannabinoid products in Las Vegas and selling them across the country, according to a statement from the Internal Revenue Service.

On July 3, 2019, a Las Vegas jury found 49-year-old Charles Burton Ritchie, of Park City, Utah, and 46-year-old Benjamin Galecki, of Pensacola, Florida, guilty of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, manufacturing and possessing with the intent to distribute controlled substance analogs and money laundering, among other related charges, the IRS said.

Ritchie and Galecki were found guilty of working with “spice,” which the IRS described as synthetic cannabinoid products. Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Rabbitt said the drugs contained illegal ingredients imported from China.

“These sentences demonstrate the department’s commitment to aggressively pursuing criminals who seek to circumvent U.S. drug laws by selling dangerous drugs that threaten the health of our communities across the nation,” Rabbitt said in a statement.

The IRS said Ritchie and Galecki owned and managed Zencense Incenseworks, a company that made smokable synthetic cannabinoid products and marketed them as potpourri or aromatherapy from March 21 to July 25, 2012. They rented a warehouse in Las Vegas to manufacture the products, which contained a dangerous controlled substance analog called chemical XLR-11, the IRS said.

The chemical was mixed with acetone and liquid flavoring and then applied to dried plants before the product was sent to Ritchie and Galecki in Pensacola, where it would be put into small retail bags and sold in smoke shops across the country, according to the IRS.

They made and distributed about 4,000 pounds of the product and made about $1.61 million between June 1 and July 25, 2012, the statement said.

“Ritchie received nine years in federal prison for charges brought in the Southern District of Alabama and nine years in federal prison for charges brought in the Eastern District of Virginia,” the IRS said in the statement. “Galecki received eight years in federal prison for charges brought in the Southern District of Alabama and eight years in federal prison for charges brought in the Eastern District of Virginia.”

All of their sentences will run concurrent with each other, and the men were ordered to forfeit about $2.5 million, the IRS said.