Cornbread Mafia boss Johnny Boone released from federal prison

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The man known as the "Godfather of Grass" is now out of federal prison and in a Louisville halfway house.

Former Cornbread Mafia leader Johnny Boone was serving a nearly five-year sentence at the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution, after pleading guilty to growing one-thousand marijuana plants.

Boone spent eight years on the run before federal agents found him in Canada in 2016. He was sentenced on the single count in 2018, but his attorneys filed paperwork arguing he should be released early- because of a Coronavirus outbreak at the prison.

At least 520 inmates at Elkton Federal Correctional have tested positive. Nine deaths have been reported.

A Facebook post from one of Boone’s family friends says he was released from prison last night and brought to a halfway house in Louisville.