Virginia Man Gets 40 Years for Running Massive Weed Operation From Luxury Car Dealership
A Virginia man recently received a 40-year prison sentence for his role in operating a large-scale marijuana dealing ring. In a unique twist, a luxury used-car dealership in Newport News served as the base for the weed operation.
The 34-year-old Newport News man, Cortez Dayshawn Bumphus, was one of four people found guilty by a federal jury in relation to the ring. Those four were among 37 defendants indicted in the drug operation. At least 31 of them have pleaded guilty.
The weed-dealing ring used Lux Auto Sales & Rental as a front, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The conspiracy involved sending suitcases of cash to California in return for suitcases of weed from 2017 to 2023.
The FBI opened its investigation into Lux Auto in June 2021 after getting a tip about “large-scale drug trafficking activity.” The criminals used the luxury car dealership as the East Coast “base of operations” for the drug ring.
The Virginian-Pilot reported that phone conversations overheard by the FBI revealed about “1,000 pounds of marijuana a week” being brought into Virginia. The FBI eventually uncovered more than $22 million “flowing in and out of various accounts belonging to or associated with the individuals in the … indictment and their associates.”
The convicted drug dealer had a history of violent crime arrests
Bumphus was convicted of continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, possessing a gun as a convicted felon, possessing a gun in a drug crime, maintaining “drug-involved premises,” and using a communication device in drug dealing.
He will now serve 40 years in prison and pay a $6.4 million fine. The court also ordered Bumphus to turn over $62,000 in cash, designer shoes, and guns.
Prosecutors previously charged him with first-degree murder for a killing that occurred in September 2016. Newport News prosecutors dropped the charge in early 2017 after a key witness failed to show for trial. They also charged Bumphus with second-degree murder in October 2020 after a car chase. A jury acquitted him after a three-day trial in 2022.
