Lane County Authorities Seize Thousands of Marijuana Plants, Cash, And Guns In Crackdown on Illegal Operations
According to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement in Lane County has shut down two large-scale illegal marijuana factories and arrested at least 10 people.
In February, a bust leads to the seizure of 16,000 marijuana plants
The sheriff’s office said that on February 15, law enforcement agencies in Lane County executed search warrants at seven locations after a year-long investigation into a large criminal ring that made and processed marijuana.
During the search, officers found more than 16,000 marijuana plants growing in nine buildings on a property off Crow Road outside of Eugene.
Officials say that the operation directly involved about $280,000, guns, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of vehicles and grow equipment.
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Investigators found out that the operation was selling marijuana outside of the state, to places like Texas, Minnesota, Arkansas, and France
Facility feet from the Amazon canal had materials that could easily catch fire.
As part of the operation, an illegal professional-scale marijuana refinery on West 12th Avenue in west Eugene was also shut down, officials said. Officials said that the refinery, which is right next to the Amazon canal, had a lot of unregulated, highly flammable materials in large quantities. The mess is still being cleaned up.
Officials say that seven people have been arrested and that more arrests are likely. Officials said that one of the people who were arrested was already on probation in Texas for shipping marijuana through the U.S. Postal Service.
The sheriff’s office says that on March 15, law enforcement searched a grow site south of Eugene and a home in Happy Valley. They found more than 12,000 marijuana plants and 3,600 pounds of processed marijuana.
Officials said that neighbors told deputies about the grow after they heard about it more than once. Officials said that the property had two buildings that were 60 feet by 300 feet and were used to grow marijuana.
Officials say that the people who ran the operation lived in three homes in Lane County and one home in Happy Valley. When police searched the homes, they found guns, marijuana, and more than $400,000 in cash.
Officials say that a few of the suspects were part of an organized crime ring in King County, Washington, in 2017. This ring was called a transcontinental drug trafficking organization. Investigators found that more than $9 million was wired to China under different LLC names.
Officials said that workers at the grow operation were told they would get between $3,000 and $5,000 a month. Officials said that one of the workers said they were forced to work 13 hours a day, seven days a week, in order to get more work done. Officials say that the worker said he wanted to quit but wouldn’t get paid for his work if he did.
Investigators also found out that the grow site off of Dillard Road had been the target of two armed robberies in the last two years that were not reported to the police. Officials say that during one of the robberies, the suspects pointed guns at the workers and said they were police officers.
