Photo by Pacific County Sheriff's Office - The inside of an illegal grow. Homes were gutted to make room for more cannabis plants.
The illegal cannabis grow raids in Grays Harbor County has lead to raids in Pacific County.
The Grays Harbor raids resulted in the arrest of 44 suspects, 32,000 illegal marijuana plants worth over $80 million and over $400,000 in cash and gold being seized.
Three homes located around in Pacific County were raided as well: one located around 2000 Block of Hwy 6, the other located near the 1000 Block of Pine Street in Grayland, and one on the 800 Block of Hammond Road just outside the city limits of Raymond. The raids resulted in two arrests, over 2,400 illegal cannabis plants, and expensive grow equipment being seized.
Speaking to the Herald, Sheriff Johnson who oversaw the raids said, "In my entire career I have never seen anything like this." He then stated, "The equipment they were using was so sophisticated that they could completely mask the smell. The light bulbs they were using are easily worth $500 each and we have a 26 foot U-Haul full of them. The houses were completely gutted inside to allow for a large scale grow operation with maximum room, while the outside looked like any ordinary home, it was beyond belief."
When asked if there is concern of there being possibly more grows Sheriff Johnson stated, "Yes, I'm sure there is and luckily when we raided the home in Grayland we were able to apprehend two suspects who were actively working the grow. It was by luck we were able to apprehend them because we hit the house later in the evening on Nov. 28. Word obviously hadn't gotten to them yet or they figured they were safe."
He continued, "We hope to get some good intel from the suspects when we interview them. We secured a lot of evidence and we will be sure to look it all over carefully." Sheriff Johnson explained to the Herald that these raids were made possible thanks to information shared with them from neighboring Grays Harbor County and other agencies along with investigations of their own.
When asked if the raids in Grays Harbor led directly to the raids here Sheriff Johnson stated, "Yes and no. We got some really good intel provided to us thanks to the raids in Grays Harbor, but we have been getting intel provided to us for several months now."
The Sheriff's Office was assisted by Raymond Police, South Bend Police, Shoalwater Police, and agencies from Lewis County.
"I had to call fellow departments inside and outside the county to ask for help with this," said Sheriff Johnson. "We have had our budget taken away that supported anti-drug operations and this really showcases how important the budget really is and how much we need it." He continued, "I'm really thankful for all the help we received from the agencies I contacted. Without their help I have no idea how we would have done it."
Sheriff Johnson explained that prior to losing the funding, the Sheriff's Office was able to staff three deputies, one part-time prosecutor, one part-time secretary and one part-time court clerk whose sole responsibilities were to aid in drug cases and perform anti-drug operations.
"I have a truck load ready to be sent out of undercover vehicles to be sold as surplus because I don't have deputies to be put in them," Sheriff Johnson said.
"The deputies duties of anti-drug operations didn't just effect the drug related crime they also affected other crimes. We would pick someone up on drug charges and watch the burglary rate in that area drastically drop."
This week has been extremely long for local law enforcement agencies as not only did they have the raids here, but Raymond Police, South Bend Police, and the Sheriff's Office loaned officers to neighboring Grays Harbor County with the massive raids performed there. Raymond Police Chief Chuck Spoor stated, "Raymond PD was able to provide one officer with a K-9 to assist Grays Harbor." Both the Sheriff's Office and South Bend Police also had officers assisting.
Raids in both Grays Harbor and Pacific County came to light after suspicion grew and complaints began piling up after homes in both counties were being purchased with cash. Some neighbors noticed a strong odor of marijuana from the houses along with suspicious traffic in and out of the residences. Upon the initial investigation that led to the raids being performed, it was discovered Chinese nationals were buying the properties to turn them into large grow operations in order to support organized crime.
As of the interview with Sheriff Johnson deputies were still in the middle of processing the large amount of evidence seized and destroying plants. This story is still developing and more details should be available within coming weeks.