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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Law enforcement estimated a sizable investment was made – as much as $50,000 – in an indoor growing operation on rural property just outside Centralia, where they seized almost 30 pounds of marijuana from an outbuilding.
The 23-year-old resident who allegedly cultivated and trimmed the plants was charged in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday with two felonies in connection with the find.
Ivan C. Spain Hanson was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon, after spending a night in the Lewis County Jail.
Hanson has no criminal history, not even a speeding ticket in his past, defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge as bail was discussed.
He earns about $4,000 per month working at a distributor called Green Leaf Industries in Thurston County, O’Rourke said, indicating that meant he didn’t qualify for a court appointed lawyer.
His case was pursued by the Lewis County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Hanson is charged with manufacture of marijuana and also possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture or deliver, both class C felonies with maximum penalties of five years in prison.
Charging documents don’t make any mention of where he may have planned to market the product.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt when he learned the defendant was employed in the marijuana industry pondered aloud how to tailor the conditions of release, which generally order that a person pending trial may not use or possess illegal drugs.
“Do not have any on your person while you’re away from the job site,” Hunt told him. “And do not use any, on or off the job site.”
While producing and selling recreational cannabis have been legalized in Washington, following the 2012 passage by voters of Initiative 502, businesses must be licensed through the state Liquor and Cannabis Board.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said Hanson did not have any kind of license for his operation.
The property is on the 1200 block of Roswell Road, on the east side of town on land just adjacent to the city that sits in unincorporated Lewis County.
Details in court documents are few, suggesting JNET began the investigation “in 2016”. A detective who went to the location could smell the strong odor of growing marijuana coming from the buildings.
Records showed exceptionally high amounts of electricity were being used there. A search warrant for the home and outbuildings was obtained on Monday.
Masiello wrote in charging documents that 150 plant were found in the larger building, and one room appeared to have just been harvested. Marijuana was found inside large trash bags, he wrote.
The preliminary weight of what detectives confiscated was 29 pounds.
Given the growing equipment they found, it appeared $40,000 to $50,000 had been invested in the facility, Masiello wrote.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm made mention to the judge a gun was found in Hanson’s vehicle, when she addressed the question of bail.
O’Rourke noted his car was located elsewhere, with the weapon inside, not at the property and not with Hanson. Hanson had a license for the .22 caliber Walthur, according to O’Rourke.
Judge Hunt allowed the defendant release on a $10,000 unsecured bond. He ordered him to return to court next Thursday.
The illegal grow find comes on the heels of a similar case.
Two individual appeared before the same judge on Wednesday, also charged with manufacture of marijuana.
According to the allegations in court documents in that case, a Renton woman purchased a building described only as on Tower Avenue in Centralia – with recently darkened windows – for the purpose of of growing marijuana.
A detective with tips from citizens, including one who reported smelling marijuana, contacted the driver of a black BMW parked there this past spring.
Anh Tuan Hoang Nguyen, 33, of Centralia, provided the detective with an authorization form and allowed him inside, where he said he had 25 plants.
The detective was shown a room with about 25 plants, but then behind two doorways found rooms with about 80 more plants.
Nguyen told the detective he sold five to six pounds of marijuana every three to six weeks, and that he was growing it for a dispensary in Seattle. When asked about money, he handed over $6,605 he said were proceeds.
Charges were filed on July 1, following the JNET investigation, and Nguyen and his mother were summonsed to court. His mother is named in court documents as Mai Anh Hoang Nguyen, 54 years old.
They arrived to court on Wednesday afternoon with a lawyer and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Judge Hunt set their bail with $10,000 unsecured bonds. Their trials are set for the week of Oct. 13.
Neither the city of Centralia nor Lewis County have yet issued any approvals for growers, processors or retailers of marijuana.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
The truth about the lies. When marijuana grow labs are busted the Sheriff then holds a yearly auction and sells the Marijuana grow equipment back to the public. If the police really cared about stopping marijuana grow labs they would destroy the confiscated grow equipment. So the fact that there re selling the equipment only proves they don’t really care about public safety, the police are just in it for the money. Not the well being of the community. The corruption is out in the open for all to see.
Damm thats some Serious Mark Twain shit right there 2borrnot2Be. Are you reading these postsLewis County officials? Or are you driving through town just to pick up you’re PayChecks? Sheriff Snanza if you ever cared about the Community you would of never re-sold grow equipment at your yearly police auctions. Lets pray together here that the Centralia pool will be re opened with the 50,000 dollars of grow equipment the Sheriff Seized and all the fines they gather. Wont never happen, Why the police are just here to make money off our backs for Victimless crimes. The drug war closed you’re public pool that was filled with Fluoride. It’s all in the open Were Just Slaves to be preyed upon.
Laws made through deception are not laws and should be disregarded.
The voters were lied to and led to believe they were voting for common sense with regards to cannabis.
Allison Holcolm made public statement after public statement that the new law woulud “not hurt patients”, but that’s exactly what it does. It’s okay if you want to get high for fun, but if you need it for medicine, be prepared to jump through hoop after hoop after hoop just trying to obtain medicine safely, reliably, and affordably.
Now, patients can only get low dose edibles, which forces them to purchase more products, thus increasing patient’s costs for medicine. Yes, they can get the tax dropped, as is the norm for other medications. But, in order to defray the costs of medicine in order to be exempt from the tax, patients must now register with the State Dept. of Health and the information in that registry is available to myriad people and agencies, including law enforcement and they have shown an eager willingness to profile people regardless of the laws prohibiting such behavior.
It’s okay to go to a recreational store and pay 10 to 20x’s what patients were paying at collectives, but if you share medicine with a sick patient who’s gone bankrupt from an abusive for-profit healthcare system, you could be facing a felony charge and jail time.
Remember, these are not laws, but edicts from an illegitimate apparatus posing as your government.
And also remember, these edicts were surreptitiously passed through guile and deception, which is against the law.
But, it’s unsafe to disregard edicts when your neighbor and fellow countrymen are so eager to stab their fellow citizens in the back or refuse to implement jury nullification when on a jury.
No victim, no crime.
If police agencies want to be taken seriously they should stop acting as if the people work for them.
Furthermore, if the police want to make a community safe, then it’s their duty to protect that community, not target it or disrupt it’s legitimate commerce. Taking out one successful farmer has ripple effects that can be felt for years.
For every legitimate farmer defending his livelihood against illegal and immoral edicts that gets put out of business, the electric company, hardware stores, restaurants, garden stores, electrical stores, and many more business all lose money.
These outrageous abuses of power, if not stopped legally, will leave everybody a pauper on foodstamps, unless you can afford to pay the protection fee. In that case, only the cops will be upwardly mobile.
Maybe that’s what they’re really after.
This is not an issue of whether or not marijuana is legal or not. The voters passed the law legalizing marijuana but there were many stipulations.
You can possess and smoke an ounce or less but you cannot grown and sell it without a license and a bunch of regulations. Law enforcement did not write the law but have to follow it’s rules.
The marijuana law was poorly written. If it is legal then it is legal for everyone 21 or older to grow, possess or smoke.
I agree with the DUI laws concerning driving under the influence of marijuana but other than that, like I said, if its legal then make it all legal.
Having the “state” in charge of regulating it means higher prices which will make the “street” trade costs less and not end the drug cartels making profits.
Brew all the alcohol you want no problem, grow a God given plant go to jail. Prohibtion is over in our 3rd World America. The United Nations makes the Drug Schedule Laws, this needs to be up to the voters which have spoken. What came first the chicken or the egg. Good to see the public pool is open and theres plenty of extra money for pot busts and all the illegals are being deported quickly. Stocks are up this week for the private prison companys. Whats next in crime and drugs Lewis County, Seattle Pain Centers closed their doors expect some suicides and pharmacy Robberys. Good Job DEA and pig faces you will never win the drug war. Drugs have been used since the dawn of time, people just need to feel better. Open the community pool first before you waste money on pot. II the police really cared about Marijuana Grows they wouldnt have a yearly aution and re sell the grow equipment, they would destroy it. Sheriff Snaza dont re sell grow ewuipment if your trying to stop this. Lets all say it together. No victim no crime. In the mean time keep drinking the local water and keep the Herb on the down low.
It is not as if law enforcement and the courts are acting out of line on this one. Its a matter for the votors in this state and county for us to fix. I have been growing a small amount ofmarijuana (3-15)
plants on and off for two years. I stay within the law and have even had a sheriff’s deputy run my paperwork i keep with my plants and ID to make sure it was kosher. I got no grief. And i have no money to speak of. The green leaf people know the law and know how to do it right. The guy was acting under wanton disregard for the law. Regardless of whether the law is bullshit or not and should be changed. He got caught because he fucked up. He is a criminal and criminals know thats what happens sometimes. That risk is why they make the money they do, for taking those chances.
I agree with Good Grief , what a big fat , resource wasting load of BS.
Good Grief you’re absolutely right about that.
This all comes down to taxes. Nothing more.
Sadly a judge will tire of people disregarding new regulations and make an example out of a poor soul.
Marijuana is Legal
Thank you for reporting this!
Jury Nolifacation Lewis County, this is how we win. Plenty of money for pot busts. But no money for body cameras nor cash cameras and the community pool is still closed. Lots of money for cops to play commando ovet a God given plant. In the future police uniforms will be nothing more than rags.
Educate yourself Good grief. The voters have spoken in Washington and the rules and regulations have been made. Color outside of the lines and it’s criminal, not a licensing issue. Both noted cases appear to be blatant abuse and part of a black market enterprise.
So maybe the charge should be more of a “operating without a license” rather than taking all the resources of JNET or similar agencies? This is a business license offense. Fine him. Let him go. Stop making this a big dramatic “bust” of some sort of “drug kingpin” or something. sigh.