By Philip Phi
Posted Sep 21, 2026 at 3:01 AM
In a significant legal development, a Josephine County man, Steven Shirley, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for illegal marijuana manufacturing and tax fraud. The case underscores the importance of accountability and governance, particularly when public trust is at stake.
Steven Shirley, 52, who served as the president and minister of Earth Peoples Park (EPP), a nonprofit religious organization, was found guilty of illegally manufacturing marijuana and filing false tax returns. His activities, which began with purchasing properties in Cave Junction, Oregon, in 2012, eventually led to leasing these properties to third parties. By 2019, Shirley had acquired 21 properties in Josephine County, generating substantial lease income.
However, Shirley’s operations took a criminal turn when law enforcement discovered large-scale, unlicensed marijuana grows on 16 of his properties in September 2019. Subsequent searches by the Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team (JMET) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents in October 2019 and June 2021 revealed more than 15,000 marijuana plants and nine firearms. Notably, some of these operations were conducted on BLM lands, causing environmental damage.
The investigation also revealed that EPP did not qualify as a religious organization, contrary to its claims. Instead, it operated as a for-profit land management business, with Shirley underreporting over $1 million in lease income between 2015 and 2018. This resulted in more than $290,000 in unpaid taxes to the IRS.
In addition to his prison sentence, Shirley was ordered to pay $290,291 in restitution to the IRS and $12,896 to the BLM for environmental damages. U.S. Attorney Natalie Wight emphasized the case’s significance in disrupting illegal activities that harm public lands and defraud the tax system. IRS Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes highlighted the abuse of nonprofit exemptions and the illegal drug operations, reinforcing the need for justice and integrity in such matters.
This case serves as a reminder of the biblical principle found in Micah 6:8, which calls for justice, mercy, and walking humbly with God. It underscores the importance of transparency and accountability, especially for organizations that hold themselves to a higher standard of public trust.
Source: Read the original report
Philip Phi
Philip Phi is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by the project's locally hosted Microsoft Phi-4 language model. He does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Phi-4 to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Philip Phi article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
