A Salem man served as the ringleader of a multimillion-dollar marijuana drug trafficking operation that marketed butane hash oil, THC-infused candy and cereals and psilocybin mushrooms online and then shipped the drugs to customers across the country and overseas.
Investigators set up pole cameras for surveillance and then got warrants last fall to search six properties, including a warehouse and home belonging to 45-year-old Jered Jeremiah Hayward, according to a federal affidavit.
On Wednesday, Hayward made his first appearance in federal court, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering from January 2020 through Sept. 17, 2024.
It was the third time Hayward has been prosecuted and pleaded guilty to federal drug crimes, including fentanyl distribution conspiracy.
When he’s sentenced in late May, the government will seek a 14-year prison term, while his defense attorney will ask for a 10-year sentence, the mandatory minimum for a marijuana conspiracy conviction.
“They didn’t put me in this position — I did,” Hayward said, motioning to the two prosecutors seated across from him as he appeared before U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio in Portland.
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service began the investigation in 2021. A man charged with selling drugs identified Hayward’s encrypted Telegram channel as the source of his marijuana and marijuana products, a federal asset forfeiture investigator James Stratton wrote in the affidavit. A review of photos and videos on the Telegram channel revealed the interior of the drug operation’s warehouse.
Oregon remains a major illegal source for high-potency marijuana and extract products, with an average of 125 different organizations investigated yearly, according to the most recent Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report.
Despite state efforts to regulate the legalized marijuana market, products made in Oregon continue to be seized nationwide, the report said.
Hayward worked with an alleged accomplice identified as Antonio Irving Benjamin and paid as many as 10 others to make the various products for sale, according to the affidavit.
Benjamin, 53, has not been charged in the conspiracy in Oregon but civil forfeiture papers identify him as the other primary operator of the scheme. Prosecutors did not say if he has been arrested elsewhere or if a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Items for sale included THC candy and cereal treats with colorful packaging that used the name of actual products such as Whoppers, Reese’s and Rice Krispies, according to the affidavit.
Hayward marketed the products and took orders on social media using Telegram and customers typically paid for the drugs on cash apps, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher L. Cardani. Most of the products were shipped to customers across the country via U.S. mail but some loyal local customers did pickups, he said. Prosecutors said some products were sold overseas but did not identify where.
From January 2022 through July 2023, investigators documented at least 2,578 Cash App payments to the drug trafficking operation for more than $2.4 million, Cardani said.
Federal agents observed the shipment of at least 350 parcels from Hayward’s main production warehouse at 1910 Vista Avenue S.E. in Salem to locations across the U.S., the affidavit said.
They separately tracked 1,126 packages sent via the U.S. Postal Service from customers to the Salem operators that investigators believe contained cash payments, the affidavit said.
Federal agents served search warrants on Sept. 17 at six locations, including the main warehouse and the home of Hayward and his wife, who has not been charged.
They seized 691 kilograms of raw marijuana bud, 3,357 kilograms of THC vapes and edibles, 232 kilograms of psilocybin mushrooms and edibles and 558 kilograms of butane hash oil.
Investigators seized other assets during the searches, including more than $1 million in cash, gold and silver bars and coins worth about $400,000, multiple vehicles, boats and Rolex watches, Cardani said.
They also obtained warrants to seize cryptocurrency bought in part with the drug trafficking proceeds and seized an additional $640,000, he said.
Hayward used three businesses to conduct and conceal the illegal operation. None of the businesses or people involved held Oregon licenses to produce or sell marijuana or related products, according to Cardani.
Two of the businesses, Always Native and Bottles and Tins, purported to be online retailers that sold skin care. The other was A2Z Trans-port LLC, billed as a general freight carrier, the federal affidavit said.
Always Native listed its mailing address as the Haywards’ home and Hayward’s wife, Domenica Hayward, was listed as the main representative for the Bottles and Tins business. A2Z Transport’s main address was listed as Benjamin’s home in Salem, with his wife identified as the manager, according to the affidavit.
Documents found in the Haywards’ home office showed imports for Bottles and Tins that included 200,000 lip tubes, 10,000 plastic trays, 6,000 silicone molds and 23,040 serum bottles — items all associated with the production, packaging and sale of marijuana and marijuana products, the affidavit said.
A U.S. Border Patrol seizure of one shipment showed that Bottles and Tins imported 2,200 packaging boxes to hold various psilocybin-laced chocolates and marijuana vapes, as well as colorful packaging for the THC-infused candies and cereal, the affidavit said. The packaging that the Border Patrol seized matched the multi-colored PolkaDot packaging for THC-infused candies and cereals in the Salem warehouse searched, investigators said.
In the Hayward’s detached garage, investigators found a pressure steam sterilizer used in the marijuana industry, as well as trash bags stuffed with mushrooms and marijuana and stacks of cash in a vacuum-packed seal kept in a dirt-covered bag, according to the affidavit.
In the trunk of a bright red Chevy Chevelle parked in the detached garage of the Haywards’ home, agents found multiple black trash bags filled with mushrooms, along with $906,287 in cash, 124 silver coins and 138 gold pieces, the affidavit said.
Though the convictions typically call for detention of a defendant pending sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kemp L. Strickland told the judge that the government doesn’t consider Hayward a danger or a risk to flee.
He’s a lifelong Oregon resident who was born in Medford, has a wife, two grown stepchildren and a young son and suffered a stroke in 2023 that caused some paralysis on the right side of his body, according to Strickland.
The judge accepted Hayward’s guilty plea.
Baggio allowed Hayward to remain out of custody with conditions, including that he not open any new financial accounts or move his address without prior approval of a federal officer.
Prosecutors also informed Hayward that the government filed civil forfeiture claims against his house and the main warehouse, giving federal investigators access to inventory the properties.
In August 2022, Hayward was sentenced to time served and put on two years of supervision after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. He had been arrested in 2017 after the Drug Enforcement Administration intercepted two packages from China that contained fentanyl and were addressed to his Tigard business.
In 2003, Hayward was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
Benjamin was previously sentenced in 2017 to six years and five months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release after he was convicted of possession with intent to distribute heroin and furanyl fentanyl. In December 2020, he was granted compassionate release from prison after a judge found him especially vulnerable to COVID-19 due to chronic health conditions.
In January 2023, Benjamin’s five years of supervised release was halted early after his defense lawyer argued he had adhered to his release conditions. His lawyer told the court that Benjamin was working as a commercial truck driver and employed by a Salem business, Always Native, where he was described as an “excellent employee” who took “pride in all the work he does,” according to a letter submitted to a judge and signed by Domenica Tabares, now Domenica Hayward.
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