By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An Asian man, who pleaded guilty to trafficking about 105 pounds of marijuana northeast of Cushing, was placed on 10 years of probation as part of a plea agreement with the prosecution that was approved in court on Dec. 20.
Kou Yang, 47, of Yale, who had been jailed on $250,000 bail for almost two months, was released from custody after his sentencing by Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler on Dec. 20.
When the judge explained to Yang that a guilty plea to drug trafficking could affect his immigration status, his attorney, Stephanie Morris of Oklahoma City, said in court that his native country was not working with the United States regarding deportation.
As probation conditions, Yang was ordered to have a substance abuse evaluation, follow any recommendations, undergo random drug testing, show evidence of employment and perform 100 hours of community service along with paying court costs as well as a $2,000 fine, $150 for an OSBI examination and a $960 prosecution fee.
Yang, who was identified by his California driver’s license, was arrested after a traffic stop for traveling in a Honda Odyssey northbound on Norfolk Road at 65 mph in a 45-mph zone at about 7:30 pm on Oct. 27, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Billy Overbey wrote in an affidavit.
When the trooper approached the vehicle on the passenger side, he “immediately smelled an overwhelming odor of marijuana,” his affidavit said.
“While approaching the vehicle, numerous large brown paper sacks were visible from the vehicle’s rear and side windows,” the trooper wrote in his affidavit.
“Yang opened the vehicle’s rear hatch and ripped open one of the six brown paper sacks; each brown sack weighed approximately 12-15 pounds and was full of a green leafy substance,” the affidavit said.
When the trooper asked Yang if he had a marijuana transporter’s license or if he had any documentation, “he explained that he did not,” the affidavit said.
“Yang explained that he worked for the ‘MITCHELL LLC Marijuana Grow’ and was transporting ‘marijuana stems’ to destroy. In addition, Yang explained that the ‘marijuana stems’ did not belong to him and that he was solely transporting them,” the affidavit said.
After Yang was arrested at 8:11 pm and advised of his Miranda rights, “Yang explained that he was invoking his fifth amendment right and refused to speak further,” the affidavit said.
Yang’s front seat passenger, Pao Xiong Chang, 49, of Detroit, who was identified by his Michigan ID card and explained that the marijuana was not his, was also arrested at 8:11 p.m., the affidavit said. Chang was also jailed on $250,000 bail on a marijuana trafficking charge that was dismissed by the prosecution Tuesday in “the best interest of justice,” court records show.
The trooper “documented that the vehicle contained six brown sacks of marijuana weighing approximately 75 lbs. combined and three black 27-gallon crates of marijuana weighing around 10 lbs. each,” the affidavit said. Four phones were also seized in evidence, the affidavit said.
