Two more Aberdeen homes converted into black market marijuana grow operations were raided over the weekend as citizens continue to phone in tips, Aberdeen police said.
Police arrested five Chinese nationals and found hundreds of marijuana plants at two addresses in the city. The scenario matched the cases last week when multi-county raids targeted homes that had been purchased for cash, typically without being seen by the buyer, then converted to grow houses operated by Chinese nationals. Dozens were arrested in raids that started Tuesday, Nov. 28. Most of the raids were in Grays Harbor.
“One search warrant occurred during the evening of Dec. 1 at a residence on Highland Drive (in Aberdeen off Wishkah Road just east of Stewart Memorial Park),” said Steve Shumate, Chief Criminal Deputy with the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office. “Over 600 marijuana plants were confiscated and four adults were arrested. Those arrested included men ages 54, 60, and 63.”
Also arrested there was a 43-year-old woman, whose 7-year-old child was also at the residence. That child was taken into protective custody by Child Protective Services, said Shumate.
The following day, the Aberdeen Police Department along with officers from Cosmopolis and Montesano searched a residence on Thornton Street in Aberdeen, between North Park Street and West Wishkah Street.
“Over 900 marijuana plants were seized,” said Shumate. “One male suspect was at this location actively processing the marijuana plants. He was also taken into custody.”
Shumate said tips from the public have aided the investigation, and urges anyone with information bout the illegal grow operations to call the Grays Harbor County Communications Center at 360-533-8765.
“The concern at this point is unattended grows where equipment, including lighting systems, is still on,” said Shumate. “This can create a fire hazard.”
There are currently more than 20 Chinese nationals in the Grays Harbor County Jail associated with the illegal marijuana growing operations. A number of them had court appearances Monday. On Friday, Superior Court Judge David Edwards has carved out blocks of times for attorneys, mostly court-appointed, to meet with their clients with translators in several different Chinese dialects. The bulk of those arrested will be arraigned Monday, Dec. 11.
The Grays Harbor Drug Task Force is an interagency investigative unit with detectives assigned from the Sheriff’s Office, Aberdeen Police Department and Hoquiam Police Department.
