Jian Le Chen takes a seat at the defense table in Lewis County Superior Court
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – After several attempts at driving by a rural Chehalis home to catch the scent of marijuana, drug detectives yesterday decided to knock on the front door and ended up seizing hundred of illegal plants and arresting four people.
Twenty-seven-year-old Jian Le Chen was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of manufacture of marijuana. The other three individuals were released today from the Lewis County Jail pending further investigation
Chen was brought before a judge this afternoon for a bail hearing, but a Cantonese interpreter was unavailable so they rescheduled it for tomorrow afternoon.
Charging documents in the case state that in January, a neighbor off the 300 block of Brockway Road advised a family had purchased the property, were doing lots of construction in a detached shop and they suspected a grow operation there.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective Matt Schlecht inspected the power records for the property and saw a large increase in the electrical usage, according to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joel DeFazio.
Yesterday when Schlecht and other members of the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, along with a special agent from an unspecified agency, made the decision to conduct a knock and talk at the residence, Schlecht was able to smell the odor of fresh growing marijuana coming from the shop, according to DeFazio.
They spoke with Chen who allegedly told them there were approximately 500 plants inside and that he was not authorized to grow marijuana, the documents relate.
Charging documents go on to offer the following information: A security sweep, for officer safety, was conducted of the house and shop and a male and a female were located. A telephonic search warrant was granted.
Three of the five rooms in the shop contained growing marijuana plants, one room held a cooler with trimmed and dried bud and another room just had growing equipment. A total of 862 plants, including 279 starter plants, were seized.
Also confiscated was the growing equipment and Chen’s mini van.
Chen allegedly stated he was growing the marijuana for someone else, and also that he just grows it for himself because he smokes a little bit and lets the rest sit.
He said he was from China but moved here from New York last year, and the house belonged to his cousin.
Chen is expected to be brought before a judge again in Lewis County Superior Court at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Anybody find it strange that Chen allegedly made all these statements of guilt and leading to a search warrant to officers but couldn’t speak English for court?
Weed laws are very poorly written. Washington California and Colorado should grow all the weed in the nation. It should be untaxed, unregulated and most of all very chronic! It seems the only problem with marijuana and has been since the criminalization of pot is the politics behind it.
You know the marijuana legalization law was written so poorly. It was supposed to “save” police costs for enforcement. But of course the state is afraid of losing revnue so even though it is legal people cannot grow their own, beyond a few plants, and you have to buy it in stores that charge more with taxes than the street trade.
Just make it legal and let people gornw their own like people can make their own beer or moonshine as long as they do not sell it.
The police would be free to do other things, like stop impaired drivers, and free them up for more important things.
Also the promise of this “free money” from the sale of marijuana has not been seen by many communities or counties.
It is all about taxation and control.
Jeez Everything I buy from Amazon is made in China and now all our weed is grown by the Chinese also. When Americans can’t grow their own pot you know our once great empire is in serious decline.