Jian Ming Zhu, left, and Jin Liang Tan await their turn to go in front of a judge in Lewis County Superior Court
Updated at 7:32 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Two men arrested after more than 2,000 marijuana plants were found growing in two rural Chehalis homes were brought before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court.
Jin Liang Tan, 36, and Jian Ming Zhu, 61, were held overnight in the Lewis County Jail after search warrants were served yesterday at the 400 block of Centralia-Alpha Road and the 200 block of Pattee Road by a contingent that included local, state and federal authorities.
The investigation stemmed from a May investigation into a marijuana cultivation organization that stretched from California to Washington, according to the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Law enforcement officers found the two men at the Pattee Road residence where they both live. JNET says they also live in San Francisco.
JNET was joined by personnel from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department, the Lewis County Regional SWAT Team and the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board. A special agent from the Portland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly advised Tan of his rights in his native language.
There, police found 1,059 growing plants in several different rooms as well as several pounds of dried product.
At the Centralia-Alpha Road location, authorities seized 28 pounds of dried marijuana from a shop building and then 1,187 plants growing in seven rooms. Thousands of dollars worth of growing equipment was also confiscated from both places, according to JNET.
JNET said yesterday’s event came from information from numerous search warrants, following an earlier seizure of more than 2,500 marijuana plants from a sheriff’s office operation on the 100 block of Senn Road.
Investigators got power records from the two homes and found the usage was 10 times that of comparable-sized residences, according to court documents. During surveillance, they were able to smell the marijuana and came to recognize a van – a Toyota Sienna – at both residences which is registered to Zhu, court documents relate.
The men were charged today with manufacture of marijuana, a class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. However, the allegation is the activities took place within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, which carries an additional penalty, if convicted.
According to charging documents, Tan told law enforcement he tends to the plants, has transported large amounts of marijuana to Seattle in exchange for $900 per pound and that “random” people pick up the bulk marijuana. He said he has been given money orders by Zhu to pay the utilities.
JNET indicates it believes all the marijuana from this investigation is shipped through the mail and over the highway system to the East Coast.
In court this afternoon, an interpreter said she was called in for a Mandarin language case, but this was a Cantonese case, and she proceeded to assist.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Blye told the judge neither man had any criminal history that she was aware of. Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller asked for court appointed lawyers for both men.
Blye asked Judge James Lawler to set their bail with unsecured $10,000 bonds, and the judge agreed. Their arraignments were scheduled for Oct. 26.
Marijuana is legal in Washington under the provisions of Initiative 502, allowing a person 21 or older to possess up to one ounce of dried product and other infused items. It is also legal medicinally where, with the proper documentation, one can grow between six and 15 plants under RCW 69.51A, according to JNET.
“This operation was clearly an abuse of Washington State laws,” the group stated in a press release.
This case is still being investigated by JNET and other state and federal agencies.
There are several outstanding suspects in this investigation that are being sought, according to JNET.
The drug detectives ask that anyone who has information that would assist during the ongoing investigation to please contact them at 360-330-7680.
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Indoor nursery at Centralia-Alpha Road location. / Courtesy photo by JNET
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Those JNET boys always wait until it’s nearly harvest time before they raid. Bummer.
Hmm. Mexicans nationals? Chinese nationals? Immigration? I think trump hit the nail on the head. Legalization? I think there is lack of opportunity in the legal marijuana industry as a legal entity pushing the real entrepreneurs into illegal territory. This is America. Our current taxation system on marijuana is a failure the government soaking up the majority of the profits. Leavin less for the producers to produce a better safer product and grow their businesses. Washington state or any other state does not own the genetic rights to marijuana or the ability to grow it. It grows where conditions permit. Seed Water light air grow medium. That is natures grow permit. How dare these atheists in government tax gods gift to humanity. We should be working toward complete deregulation the current laws should be a stepping stone to that but as we all know once big govt gets involved they will do anything to keep the money flowing. ANYTHING!
They need to get the lawyer that Jim Arnold used when he got off for all his hundreds of thousands of dollars of drug operations in Onalaska.