Thomas Lee Carter, 59, was arrested by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Wednesday, as Lake County News has reported.
Carter and several co-defendants were arrested in August of 2009 and later indicted for charges stemming from the government's allegations that they conspired to sell marijuana locally and through medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego and Los Angeles, according to court documents.
From that initial indictment Carter was charged with a single count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and two counts of distributing or possessing with intent to distribute marijuana.
According to DEA Special Agent Casey McEnry, Carter was arrested on Wednesday and charged with another count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
McEnry said the new charge stems from Carter's alleged violation of his pretrial release terms for the August 2009 case.
Those release terms, she said, prohibit Carter from, among other things, committing any federal, state or local crimes.
Further details on the case and the basis of the allegations were not immediately available on Thursday.
McEnry said Carter – who had been booked into the Sonoma County Jail and held overnight Wednesday – made an initial appearance in San Francisco federal court on Thursday in answer to the charge.
She said Carter's next scheduled hearing in the case is Sept. 7, also in San Francisco.
Court documents show that the case in chief against Carter and his co-defendants – Brett Bassignani, Scott and Diana Feil, Steven Swanson and Mark Garcia – is scheduled to continue in January.
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