Mom Who Frequented Bronxville Riding Academy Indicted on Pot-Growing Charges

Andrea Sanderlin has been indicted on charges of operating a multi-million dollar marijuana growing operation. The indictment came down at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. Sanderlin remains behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The charges contrast with the mother of three's lifestyle, which recently included horseback riding lessons with her daughter at Twin Lakes Farm riding academy in Bronxville.

"Whether you're a suburban mom growing marijuana in a warehouse in Queens or a cartel member making cocaine in the jungles of Colombia, manufacturing and distributing illegal narcotics comes at a hefty price," said James Hayes Jr., a Homeland Security agent, in a release announcing the indictment.

Sanderlin is accused of growing and trying to sell more than 1,000 marijuana plants out of a Queens warehouse. 

"(Sanderlin) chose to inhabit the shadowy underworld of large-scale drug dealers, using drug proceeds to maintain her family's facade of upper middle class stability," said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

Investigators say the divorced Scarsdale mom had millions of dollars worth of marijuana in the Queens warehouse when they arrested her. The facility had multiple rooms with state-of-the-art lighting, irrigation and ventilation, according to DEA special Agent David Lee.

The 45-year-old would regularly drive her Mercedes SUV from her mansion in Scarsdale to check on her crops at the warehouse, according to court documents. 
Sanderlin has pleaded not guilty to the drug charges. Her attorney has not returned our phone call request for comment on the case.