Virginia state senator, 82, indicted for marijuana racketeering scheme

A federal indictment unsealed Oct. 22 charges Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and six others with racketeering conspiracy, marijuana distribution, money laundering, bribery-based honest services fraud, and related crimes, the Justice Department announced today.

“Today the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother. … I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down,” Lucas said in a statement on X. 

No statement from an attorney for Lucas has been reported.

Prosecutors allege Lucas led a criminal organization they call the “Lucas Enterprise,” made up of family members and associates, including her daughters Lisa Lucas Burke and Theresa Lucas-Lamb and grandson Ryan Eichelberger. 

The indictment alleges the group acquired and distributed 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, including through The Cannabis Outlet, a Portsmouth store Lucas and Lucas Burke opened in 2021, and laundered the proceeds. FBI Director Kash Patel estimated the scheme generated $4.5 million over five years.

In 2022, apparently upset about a Senate candidate going viral for smoking a joint, Lucas posted on social media, “I'm a 78 year grandma who legalized pot and now has her own cannibis (sic) store. And I'm the last thing standing between The GOP and total control of Virginia. That's worth an RT!”

The indictment also alleges Lucas used her position as chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to shield the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and to influence legislation benefiting it. 

In August 2022, prosecutors allege she paid $750,000 for a 100% stake in a shell company called Mama’s Chicken, LLC, which was tied to an unindicted co-conspirator’s expected recreational marijuana license that the Virginia politician would help obtain with her influence. She did not report the investment on required financial disclosure forms. 

Lucas later allegedly pressed the co-conspirator for repayment while discussing his qualification for a license with other officials, including legislators, according to the Justice Department. The indictment says the FBI provided $100,000 that the co-conspirator gave Lucas as a partial repayment during a January 2026 meeting in her Richmond office.

In a March 2026 call, Lucas allegedly told a legislator she needed a marijuana license because she wanted to create “generational wealth.” The indictment also cites a January 2022 social media post in which Lucas wrote that she was a grandmother who had legalized marijuana and now owned The Cannabis Outlet. Lucas was a sponsor of the 2021 law legalizing simple possession, according to the indictment. Retail sales are not yet legal in Virginia and are scheduled to begin July 1, 2027.

The indictment says an unnamed senior law enforcement officer warned Lucas in 2022 that selling marijuana was illegal and would eventually get her in trouble, urging her again at a later meeting to stop. No state criminal prosecution has ever been initiated over The Cannabis Outlet.

Lucas is charged in five counts: racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and maintaining a drug-involved premises. 

Eichelberger, who managed the outlet, is accused of possessing a gun in furtherance of drug trafficking. According to the indictment, the FBI searched The Cannabis Outlet and The CBD Shoppe on May 6 and recovered marijuana and firearms. 

“The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the Justice Department release. 

Blanche rejected claims the case is political, noting the investigation began before President Donald Trump returned to office, The Hill reported.

Lucas has been president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate since 2020 and was a major proponent of the mid-decade redistricting, a map the Virginia Supreme Court struck down. She has linked the May 6 raid to the redistricting referendum voters approved in April, the Virginia Mercury reported. 

The charges come 12 days before the Nov. 3 elections, and her initial court appearance was set for Oct. 22 in Norfolk. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said, “She is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”