Virginia state senator indicted, accused of leading a marijuana distribution enterprise

Virginia state senator Lillie Louise Lucas was indicted Thursday on five charges that include Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, Fraud, and Firearms Charges after being accused of running a marijuana distribution enterprise, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Lucas is among seven indicted in the sprawling racketeering scheme, a group that includes her two daughters, Lisa Lucas Burke and Theresa Lucas Lamb, and her grandson Ryan Eichelberger, Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a Thursday press conference.

"Louise Lucas has served in a position of public trust in the Commonwealth of Virginia for over three decades," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a DOJ statement. 

"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. Our federal prosecutors will continue to be guided by the facts and evidence that led a grand jury to indict Ms. Lucas and her alleged co-conspirators."

Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, listens during a reconvened legislative session to vote on Gov. Abigail Spanberger's amendments to the Virginia budget, Monday, June 29, 2026 at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via Getty Images)

The 82-year-old Lucas has served as a Virginia state senator since 1991, and as the president pro tempore of the state's senate since 2020. As president pro tempore, she is the presiding member of the state senate in the absence of the state's lieutenant governor. 

She also serves as chair of the state's Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee since 2024.

"Through her elected office, Senator Lucas has been a public servant of the people of Virginia. Her first duty should have been looking out for her constituents before herself, but the charges listed in the indictment reflect the alleged behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve," Blanche said Thursday. 

The DOJ said Lucas led the Lucas Enterprise with a close-knit group of friends and family that included her two daughters and a grandson. 

"[They] orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, ‘the Lucas Enterprise,' using Lucas’ position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves," FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement. 

Lucas was directly involved in a wide range of activities within the enterprise, including the acquisition and distribution of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and for the laundering of the drug sales proceeds, the DOJ said.

Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, speaks in the senate during a reconvened legislative session to vote on the budget, Monday, June 22, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via Getty Images)

Lucas responded to the indictment with a post on X.

"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," she wrote in a statement shared to X on Thursday morning.

"I grew up under Jim Crow. I've seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I'm not stopping now," she continued.

"I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down," she concluded.