A former employee of a marijuana distribution warehouse was found guilty by a jury Friday of conspiring with a corrupt Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy to rob his former employer of $2 million worth of marijuana and cash through an armed robbery staged to look like a legitimate law enforcement operation.
Christopher Myung Kim, 29, of Walnut, was convicted in Los Angeles federal court of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips scheduled a Feb. 10 sentencing hearing. Kim could get 12 years to life in federal prison, prosecutors said.
The jury acquitted Kim of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to evidence presented at Kim’s four-day trial, about 3 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2018, LASD Deputy Marc Antrim, 42, of South El Monte, and six co-conspirators, robbed a marijuana distribution warehouse in downtown Los Angeles.
Antrim, who was assigned to the LASD station in Temple City, was arrested by federal authorities for his role in the robbery and agreed to cooperate with the government.
Dressed as an armed deputy, Antrim flashed his badge and a fake search warrant to gain access to the warehouse and detain the warehouse’s security guards in a cage in the back of an LASD Ford Explorer, court documents show.
Days before the robbery, Kim had supplied Antrim with inside information about the robbery, including key details about the warehouse’s layout, operation and security. Kim also gave Antrim the warehouse’s blueprints, noting where security guards likely would be stationed and which rooms Antrim and their co-conspirators should “hit” to ensure that the most valuable items were stolen, according to evidence presented at the trial.
During the two-hour robbery, Antrim and the fake law enforcement team absconded with more than 1,200 pounds of marijuana, two large commercial safes containing more than $600,000 in cash and money orders, and other items of value from the warehouse.
Hours after the robbery, Antrim drove a rental truck to a storage facility in Walnut, where Kim had rented a unit the day of the robbery. Antrim and co-conspirator Kevin McBride, 44, of Glendora, delivered $1.5 million worth of stolen marijuana and marijuana products to Kim to resell for profit, prosecutors said.
The next day, Kim and others unloaded the stolen marijuana from the storage unit into Kim’s white Lexus RX, a Subaru SUV and a U-Haul moving truck. Kim had worked at the warehouse for years, but a dispute with its owners left him “bitterly disgruntled,” according to court documents.
Evidence admitted at trial, including Kim’s social media communications, showed that he left his job just weeks before the robbery and conspired with Antrim to orchestrate the raid both for profit and revenge against his own former bosses.
Antrim, who was arrested Nov. 8, 2018 on a federal criminal complaint, pleaded guilty March 4 to multiple felonies in connection with the armed robbery. His sentencing is scheduled for March 16. Five other defendants, including McBride, have also pleaded guilty for their involvement in the robbery and will be sentenced early next year.
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