Jan. 28--A Pasadena man will spend 30 days in jail for bringing nearly a quarter of a million dollars worth of marijuana into the state.
Brian Matthew Hollywood, 41, sentenced Friday, pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to bringing more than five kilograms of marijuana into Maryland.
The charge stems from a search at his Morton Hall Court home just before midnight Sept. 20.
State police intercepted a suspicious package addressed to the Pasadena home at a sorting facility. Police later discovered 27 pounds of marijuana inside.
Prosecutors said police took all but three pounds of the leafy drug out of the package and rewrapped the parcel, which had a return address of Vista, Calif. An undercover detective then delivered the package to the home on Morton Hall Court.
Hollywood answered the door, signed for the package and took it inside.
Just before midnight, police got a search warrant for the residence. Prosecutors said Hollywood was inside the home trying to throw the package out a rear window when they arrived.
Hollywood said, "I know you're not going to believe me, but I've only been doing this for about a month," according to Assistant State's Attorney Robin Rickard.
He said the parcel was the third package of drugs he'd received. The other two packages contained 25 pounds of marijuana. Rickard said Hollywood paid $2,200 per pound of marijuana. He would sell the marijuana for $3,000 a pound, making an $800 profit per pound.
During the search of the home, police also found $4,000 in a closet, another $1,000 in cash in an Infinity sport utility vehicle parked in the garage, a digital scale, boxes of heat-sealed bag, glass jars, two handwritten tally sheets, cellphones and computers. His attorney, Peter O'Neill said Hollywood had met an individual who convinced him selling marijuana was a good way to get extra funds.
He said his client, a 1988 Severna Park High School graduate who has no prior criminal record, made a big mistake and was forthright about that with police. Any profit was lost when Hollywood was arrested.
O'Neill said Hollywood ended up worse off than he was before.
Rickard said Hollywood deserves jail time.
"If you go by what he says...he made about $60,000 profit for the three boxes," she said.
Circuit Judge Paul A. Hackner sentenced Hollywood to five years in prison, suspending all but 30 days. The sentence, which begins next Friday may be served on weekends.
The sentence is followed by three years of supervised probation.
---
Copyright 2012 - The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
