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Published: Wednesday, Dec. 05, 2012 / Updated: Tuesday, Dec. 04, 2012 10:48 PM

York real estate agent faces drug charges in California

YORK -- 

Mike Wiley, the York real estate agent arrested last week as a fugitive on drug and weapons charges, is free on a $50,000 bond but still faces several felony charges in California.

Wiley, 56, of 2201 McFarland Road, was arrested Nov. 28 and charged as a fugitive from justice. The drug and weapons charges stem from Butte County, Calif., where Wiley is alleged to have arranged to ship 92 pounds of marijuana from a home he owns in California to his home in York, officials said.

Investigators also discovered that six other packages had been shipped to Wiley’s house earlier this year, said Marvin Brown, commander for the county’s multijurisdictional drug enforcement unit.

When officials searched Wiley’s York home, they found two crates with marijuana residue inside but no actual pot. Police in California searched Wiley’s home there and found two crates of marijuana, one with 50 pounds and the other with 42 pounds of pot, Brown said.

Sixteenth Circuit Court Judge John Hayes III set Wiley’s bond last week with only one condition – he can’t leave the state except to turn himself in to authorities in California, said Teasa Weaver, assistant 16th Circuit Court solicitor.

A specific deadline for when Wiley, the broker in charge at White Rose Realty, will have to report to California wasn’t set, Weaver said.

According to California court documents, he’s charged with: cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, sale or transfer of marijuana, three counts of possession of an assault weapon and large capacity magazine activity, a felony violating California’s gun laws and carrying less than a year in prison.

Wiley was released on bond so he could turn himself in to California authorities voluntarily “as opposed to waiting in jail here to see if California” decided to extradite him, said York lawyer Daniel D’Agostino, Wiley’s defense attorney.

Because Wiley didn’t waive extradition, if he fails to turn himself in, California prosecutors might schedule an extradition hearing to determine if officials will come to York County and take him to California to face his charges.

But D’Agostino said he anticipates Wiley will turn himself in “quickly,” possibly in the next 10 days.

D’Agostino said he hasn’t received word from California officials on when an extradition hearing could be scheduled if Wiley doesn’t comply.

Wiley has returned to work “full time operating his businesses,” D’Agostino said.

“He’s not guilty of these charges,” he said. “He’s going to go out there.”

According to federal court documents, a Columbia postal inspector intercepted a drug package Wiley allegedly shipped from “Nice Realty” in Lucerne, Calif., to South Carolina in 2011.

After learning that “Nice Realty” was actually a hotel, Lexington County drug agents received a search warrant and found five vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana along with a bag of hash inside the package, according to an affidavit to secure a search warrant.

Criminal charges were never filed in federal court. Efforts to reach officials in California were unsuccessful Tuesday. Wiley and White Rose Realty declined to comment, deferring all questions to D’Agostino.

Records with the State Law Enforcement Division show that Wiley was convicted of driving under the influence in York County in 1983.

Jonathan McFadden •  803-329-4082