Nov 29, 2016 3 min read

A Somerset Township man accused of operating a multimillion-dollar interstate marijuana trafficking operation between Washington County and the state of California was arraigned Monday on drug and other charges recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury earlier this month.

Tyler Scott Hoberman, 28, of Hess Road, Bentleyville, is charged by the state attorney general’s office with possession with intent to deliver marijuana, dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity and conspiracy. Hoberman was placed in Washington County Jail without bond by District Judge Larry Hopkins. Hopkins said he denied bond over concerns of Hoberman’s connections in California and the extreme amount of the drug involved.

Agents with the attorney general’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and officers with the Allegheny County police narcotics and vice unit started an investigation in 2014 after reportedly receiving evidence that revealed the interstate marijuana trafficking by Hoberman and money laundering by Hoberman and an alleged female accomplice.

Court documents that are part of the presentment allege that agents learned in July 2015 that Hoberman was using a courier to transport money to California and then bring hundreds of pounds of marijuana back to Pennsylvania. Hoberman then allegedly distributed the marijuana in multiple pounds to customers in Washington and Allegheny counties. His female accomplice allegedly assisted him by counting and packaging the illegal drug proceeds for transport to California.

Agents, detectives and Pennsylvania State Police troopers intercepted the courier Aug. 28, 2015, in Fayette County, while he was in possession of Hoberman’s 2015 GMC Denali pickup truck. Recovered from the truck were 141 pounds of marijuana and $75,440, police said. The state police Bureau of Forensic Services examined the packaging on the marijuana for prints, finding a fingerprint and two palm prints identified as being those of Hoberman, according to court documents.

The following day, a search warrant was executed at Hoberman’s home. Police said they found financial records, $6,000, 10 vehicles, a money counter and marijuana packaging materials. Agents indicated in court documents that they believe Hoberman was alerted to the seizure involving the courier and had removed most of the pertinent evidence from the home.

On Dec. 4, 2015, the courier and Hoberman were stopped on Interstate 79 southbound in Washington County. The two were in a 2015 GMC Sierra pickup truck pulling a camper. Agents indicated they believed Hoberman was on his way to California to purchase marijuana. They said Hoberman had about $8,100 on him and an additional $1.288 million in the camper. On Jan. 8, investigators said they seized $1.115 million in illegal drug proceeds from a vehicle on his property.

Financial records show that he and his wife own 11 properties and 39 vehicles, including some reportedly registered to a company they claimed was a car rental business, according to court documents. Records also showed they purchased $80,000 in diamonds and jewelry, police said. Credit card bills were paid by purchasing money orders with cash at various locations so as not to trigger a reporting requirement under the federal Bank Security Act.

The grand jury also recommended charges against Hoberman’s alleged co-conspirators, but charges have yet to be filed against them.

Hoberman is scheduled for a Dec. 12 hearing before District Judge Curtis Thompson.