NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) - Two men have been sentenced to decades in prison for running a synthetic marijuana operation.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that 46-year-old Charles Ritchie and 42-year-old Benjamin Galecki, both of Pensacola, Florida, were convicted in January.
Ritchie got 32 years in prison and that Galecki got 28 years. A judge in Newport News also ordered them to forfeit $6.5 million.
The men were convicted in January of running a $21 million operation out of Pensacola, Florida, known as Zencense.
They shipped 1,000 kilograms of the drug, known as "spice," to Virginia's Hampton Roads region. It was then sold in tobacco stores, head shops and other businesses.
The men gave their spice blends names such as Bizarro, Orgazmo and Sonic Zero.
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