LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The "Godfather of Grass," who fled to Canada after being indicted on federal drug charges and spent eight years on the run, has been sentenced to almost five years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III on Thursday in Louisville sentenced 74-year-old John Robert "Johnny" Boone, formerly of Marion County, Kentucky, to 57 months. Prosecutors said he pleaded guilty in December to a single count, admitting that he conspired to possess, grow and distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants at an operation near Springfield.
Boone was arrested in Canada in December 2016.
Boone was convicted in the 1980s and spent a decade in prison for what prosecutors called a massive marijuana syndicate. They said he was head of a multistate marijuana operation known as the "Cornbread Mafia."
