An Indiana pastor pleaded guilty after operating his church as a drug ring and manufacturing nearly 100 tons of synthetic marijuana, also known as “spice.”
Fundamentalist pastor Robert Jaynes, who founded Irvington Baptist Church in 1998, reportedly employed church members in his drug enterprise.
Indy Star reports records show members of the small congregation wrote personal checks to foreign suppliers of illegal substances used to make spice.
Jaynes accepted a plea deal, as did church member Kirk Parsons. Jaynes pleaded guilty to multiple counts of conspiracy to distribute/intent to distribute controlled substances.
The two were arrested in 2014 in one of the biggest synthetic drug manufacturing busts in the country.
“Some 300 plus odd pounds of finished product and some additional amount of unfinished product,” said Captain David Bursten, Spokesperson for Indiana State Police, at the time of the arrest.
