FORT WAYNE – A Harlan man charged in a massive marijuana bust signed a plea agreement this week in federal court that would put him behind bars for more than 25 years.

Matthew McChesney is not expected to formally enter a guilty plea until a court hearing next week. But according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, McChesney admitted to being an organizer of an “extensive criminal activity.”

McChesney, now in his early 30s, was arrested in February 2008 after an Allen County Sheriff’s Department traffic stop near his Antwerp Road home.

Inside his house, police found nearly 6,700 pounds of marijuana, guns and cash. The marijuana haul was one of the largest busts that Allen County law enforcement officials could recall.

A federal grand jury issued a six-count indictment against McChesney in March 2008, including counts of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

After nearly two years of fighting the case against him with multiple requests for a federal judge to throw out evidence, McChesney was scheduled to stand trial this month.

But according to a plea agreement filed with the court on Monday, McChesney will plead guilty to possessing more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute, as well as possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors will dismiss the other counts of the indictment.

McChesney and prosecutors agreed his prison sentence will be 27 years total on both counts, according to court documents.

As part of his guilty plea, McChesney agrees to forfeit nearly $1.5 million in cash, nine guns, ammunition and dozens of gun parts, including a silencer and extended magazines for the guns.

Most of the items and cash had already been forfeited, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Gellar said.

Items collected from his properties, including the rented house in Harlan, included electronic equipment such as stereo systems and video game systems, flat-screen televisions, weights, boxes of cash and safes, according to court documents.

As part of the plea agreement, McChesney also agrees to not contest the civil forfeiture of nine pieces of property, including a house where police found a stash of marijuana and guns, according to court documents.

Throughout the course of the case, McChesney has continued to collect rent on some of the properties, even pursuing small-claims actions and evictions against some of the renters, according to Allen County court records.

Officials said the properties have yet to be seized by the government.

When police and federal investigators served search warrants on properties owned or leased by McChesney, they turned up evidence that his involvement in the drug trade was what one investigator described as a “wholesaler,” with ties to the Southwest.

A search of a bank safety deposit box rented by McChesney turned up nearly $200,000 in cash, ledgers related to drug trafficking, jewelry, precious stones, precious metals and financial statements, according to court documents.

At a home he owned on Goshen Road, police found four late-model Chevrolet pickup trucks, two registered to McChesney – one at an address in Fort Wayne, another at an address in Tucson, Ariz. Receipts from motels, fast-food restaurants and a handwritten note to “Jason” about “x300” being dropped off were found inside the trucks.

Another Fort Wayne man, Jason D. McCollistor, was picked up in Arizona in February 2008.

He was driving a truck, originally bought by McChesney, with 700 pounds of marijuana in it. He was indicted on charges of transporting marijuana for sale as well as possessing more than 4 pounds of marijuana with the intent to sell it.

According to the Pinal County, Ariz., Clerk’s Office, McCollistor received five years of supervised probation in 2008.

McChesney will still need to appear in court to formally enter the guilty plea and waive his rights to a trial.

rgreen@jg.net