(Joe Amon, Denver Post file)

Kentucky man arrested in Colorado drug sting for trying to buy 10 pounds of weed (and some meth and coke)

A Kentucky man told an undercover federal agent that he wanted 10 pounds of Kush — but made it clear the marijuana wasn’t for his own use.

Federal agents filed a forfeiture claim on Monday to confiscate the $15,471 that 25-year-old Cory Wilbur brought to Colorado in May 2016 to buy marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine. Since then, Wilbur has been convicted of a drug charge in Montezuma County and served a 90-day sentence.

Wilbur is part of a steady influx of criminals to Colorado from other states where pot is illegal, believing the Western state’s lenient drug laws translate to easy pickings for their nefarious drug enterprises.

Wilbur first came to the attention of federal agents on April 23, 2016, after he allegedly entered several Cortez and Montezuma County pot dispensaries carrying an envelope he said was filled with $16,000 in cash. He told store owners he wanted to buy as much marijuana as possible. When told the limit was seven grams of pot (rules for purchases by non-residents changed in June 2016), Wilbur left his name and phone number. Dispensary owners contacted local police and sheriff’s deputies, who called in the federal agents.

A federal agent texted Wilbur and a correspondence began. Wilbur explained that he would soon return to Kentucky and wanted to make it worth his while, court records indicate. He wanted 10 pounds of marijuana, an ounce of methamphetamine and an ounce of cocaine. He offered $18,000 for the drugs.

Wilbur texted the agent that he wanted to meet in Mancos because the small town didn’t have many police officers.

They met at a picnic table in a Mancos park on May 6, 2016, and Wilbur exchanged $3,600 for marijuana. He told the undercover officer he would pay the rest of the money at his hotel room and began walking back to his car. He never made it.

A swarm of law enforcement officers surrounded him. Wilbur pulled a gun out of his waistband and began running through the park. He tried but failed to kick open a door of a house and then burrowed under a car before officers arrested him, court records said.

Investigators discovered $15,471 inside a clear baggie hidden under the rear passenger seat of his car.

This story was first published on DenverPost.com