‘Pot Mom’ Pleads Guilty

The plot of the TV show Weeds became reality as a mom admitted to running a multimillion dollar marijuana empire.

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John Minchillo / AP

Andrea Sanderlin leaves federal court after making bail

A New York woman who has been dubbed “Pot Mom” by the press, pled guilty to running a multimillion dollar marijuana empire in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday, the New York Post reports. Andrea Sanderlin, a 45-year-old mother of three, said in court that she financed her luxury lifestyle by growing and selling mass quantities of weed.

Sanderlin has drawn comparisons to Nancy Botwin on the protagonist of the Showtime series Weeds, who also had three children and sold pot in a high-end suburb.

Sanderlin told Judge Robert Levy, “From 2009 to 2013 in Queens, New York, I operated a facility in which I, together with others, grew at least 1,000 marijuana plants and sold the marijuana product from the plants.” She faces 10 years to life in prison, though her sentence will likely be reduced because of her plea.

The drug diva first drew the attention of the Feds when they linked her hefty Con Ed bill to a large warehouse in Queens. They tailed her Mercedes SUV from her $100,000-per-month mansion in Scarsdale to her grow house in New York City and discovered a huge number plants with a total street value of more than $3 million, authorities said.

[New York Post]