GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The Asian man who was busted three years ago for running a black market marijuana farm in Rifle is headed to prison. Long Luong was sentenced to seven years in federal prison. Luong pleaded guilty last May for conspiring to grow and ship over 15-hundred pounds of illegally grown weed. The pot farm east of Rifle was under surveillance by federal drug agents as well as the local Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team. Over 24-hundred plants were seized in the bust. In addition to his seven year prison sentence, Luong was also ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution and serve five year of supervised probation when he is released. Luong’s defiance didn’t earn any favors with Senior U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Krieger. Luong was arrested again in 2017 after agents seized 110 pounds of weed from another illegal farm in Southwest Colorado. Two other defendants in the illegal grow operation have also entered guilty pleas but have yet to be sentenced.
