THREE SOPHISTICATED ILLEGAL MARIJUANA GROWING OPERATIONS DISMANTLED IN PACIFIC COUNTY

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11/30/2017

 

On November 28, 2017 at approximately 8:30 am, the Grays Harbor County Drug Task Force (GHCDTF), assisted by multiple agencies including the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office, oversaw an operation that resulted in numerous search warrants being served  throughout Grays Harbor County, as well as related locations in Thurston and King Counties. The search warrants were conducted as a result of suspected illegal marijuana growing operations by Chinese Nationals that were occurring in the respective counties.


During the course of their investigation, the GHCDTF developed information that other illegal marijuana growing operations may exist within Pacific County related to their investigation and they relayed that information to the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office.  Pacific County Sheriff’s Office investigators began to follow up on the information and identified three residences within Pacific County that were tied into their investigation.

A Pacific County Sheriff’s Detective applied for and received three search warrants related to the illegal manufacturing of marijuana at three separate residences. The residences were located near Menlo, Raymond and Grayland.

On November 29th, search warrants were served on all three residences connected to the investigation. Approximately 2,394 marijuana plants were seized between the three locations. A majority of the plants were mature. An estimated 20 pounds of processed marijuana was seized. Several thousand dollars’ worth of marijuana growing equipment was dismantled and seized. Evidence at all three scenes confirmed that they were all connected and operated by the same group. Two adult male suspects were arrested at the Grayland location during the warrant service at that location. They were identified as Hoa D. Doan age 35, of San Jose California and Linh D. Nguyen age 29, also of San Jose California. Both were transported to the Pacific County Jail and booked for charges of manufacturing marijuana. They are being held on a 50,000.00 bail. The investigation is still ongoing.

With the citizen’s passage of I502, the law enforcement community respects the legal operations of marijuana producers, processors, and retailers in this state. They are required by Washington State Law to be licensed and follow strict guidelines. The search warrants conducted in Pacific County were on marijuana growing operations that were not operating with any proper licenses.

Given the logistics and geographical area, the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office sought assistance from other law enforcement agencies to assist with the service of the warrants. Those who assisted included:
The Raymond Police Department, the South Bend Police Department, the Long Beach Police Department, the Shoalwater Bay Tribal Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Scott Johnson stated, “Our Sheriff’s Office greatly appreciates the assistance that the outside agencies provided and acknowledged that an operation of this magnitude would not have been possible without their support.”