flygirlaa2
09-21-2003, 05:37 AM
Entertainer Tommy Chong was sentenced to nine months in prison Thursday and a business he partly owned received probation after their convictions in Pittsburgh on drug-related charges, the U.S. attorney said.
Mr. Chong -- whose real name is Thomas Kin Chong -- and the business he owned with other parties, Nice Dreams Enterprises LLC, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh after they were convicted of conspiracy to sell drug paraphernalia, according to Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Nice Dreams Enterprises, of Gardena, Calif. and which did business as Chong Glass, received three years' probation, Ms. Buchanan said.
As part of his sentence, Mr. Chong, 64, was ordered to forfeit the Internet domain name chongglass.com and $103,514 in proceeds from the drug paraphernalia sales, Ms. Buchanan said. Also, Mr. Chong, who lives in Pacific Palisades, Calif., must turn over drug apparatus the government seized in February and pay a $20,000 fine.
"There are consequences for violating the law, even if the violator is a well known entertainer like Thomas Chong," Ms. Buchanan said after U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab imposed the sentences.
According to information presented in court, Chong Glass sold thousands of marijuana pipes and bongs through the mail and over the Internet, using the chongglass.com Web site. The company advertised drug paraphernalia through a second Web site, tommychong.com.
Chong Glass also sold and shipped bongs and pipes to drug paraphernalia stores across the country, including Western Pennsylvania, according to information presented in court.
The company generated about $1.6 million in sales between Sept. 24, 2001 and Feb. 14 of this year, according to Ms. Buchanan. Mr. Chong invested more than $290,000 in the business, she said, and actively promoted the drug paraphernalia it sold.
Chong was arrested in May on the same charges and pleaded guilty to distributing bongs and marijuana pipes on the Internet.
Chong's May arrest and this most recent one are part of a federal crackdown on drug paraphernalia distribution called Operation Pipe Dreams, which began in February and resulted in more than 50 indictments. That national sweep shut down head shops, distributors and several Web sites.
Mr. Chong -- whose real name is Thomas Kin Chong -- and the business he owned with other parties, Nice Dreams Enterprises LLC, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh after they were convicted of conspiracy to sell drug paraphernalia, according to Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Nice Dreams Enterprises, of Gardena, Calif. and which did business as Chong Glass, received three years' probation, Ms. Buchanan said.
As part of his sentence, Mr. Chong, 64, was ordered to forfeit the Internet domain name chongglass.com and $103,514 in proceeds from the drug paraphernalia sales, Ms. Buchanan said. Also, Mr. Chong, who lives in Pacific Palisades, Calif., must turn over drug apparatus the government seized in February and pay a $20,000 fine.
"There are consequences for violating the law, even if the violator is a well known entertainer like Thomas Chong," Ms. Buchanan said after U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab imposed the sentences.
According to information presented in court, Chong Glass sold thousands of marijuana pipes and bongs through the mail and over the Internet, using the chongglass.com Web site. The company advertised drug paraphernalia through a second Web site, tommychong.com.
Chong Glass also sold and shipped bongs and pipes to drug paraphernalia stores across the country, including Western Pennsylvania, according to information presented in court.
The company generated about $1.6 million in sales between Sept. 24, 2001 and Feb. 14 of this year, according to Ms. Buchanan. Mr. Chong invested more than $290,000 in the business, she said, and actively promoted the drug paraphernalia it sold.
Chong was arrested in May on the same charges and pleaded guilty to distributing bongs and marijuana pipes on the Internet.
Chong's May arrest and this most recent one are part of a federal crackdown on drug paraphernalia distribution called Operation Pipe Dreams, which began in February and resulted in more than 50 indictments. That national sweep shut down head shops, distributors and several Web sites.