One person was arrested Tuesday after Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Washington State Patrol detectives and state Department of Ecology personnel served a search warrant on a large-scale, “sophisticated” cannabis growing operation in Chehalis.
Investigators seized processed marijuana and over 700 maijuana plants inside the two-story residence at 942 Shorey Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
“This was another great example of our partnership with the Washington State Patrol Marijuana Enforcement Team in preventing the unlawful production of marijuana in our community,” the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said of the case in a news release on Wednesday.
While the average power consumption for a house with one or two outbuildings is approximately 4,000 KWH per billing period, the Shorey Road address has had an average consumption of over 20,000 KWH per billing period since April 2023, according to court documents.
The house’s resident, identified as Junru Wu, 44, was arrested while investigators were executing the search warrant on Tuesday.
When interviewed via an interpreter, Wu allegedly said he has been renting the Shorey Road property for a little over a year for the purpose of building and tending a marijuana grow, according to court documents. He reportedly said he is from China and has been in the U.S. since 2018.
He allegedly “indicated he is the only one who lives and works in there” and said “he sells the dried marijuana in Seattle for between $4-500 per pound” and pays $5,000 per month in rent to the homeowners.
Wu allegedly “said he works between 2-5 hours inside the grow operation per day,” working to grow, harvest, dry, package and transport the marijuana to Seattle, “where he sells it to various people each time,” according to court documents.
He allegedly “stated he does not own the marijuana or the grow, he just works there and tends to the grow,” adding that “he does not know who he is helping but he pays the rent to the house owner, but he does not know his name.”
The property is registered to two people who do not have a license to grow marijuana. They were not facing charges in Lewis County Superior Court as of Wednesday afternoon.
Wu was charged Wednesday, Sept. 11, in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of manufacture of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, and unlawful use of a building for drug purposes.
Bail is set at $10,000 “based on the sophistication of the grow as a community safety risk and a flight risk due to lack of ties to the community,” Judge Joely Yeager said during Yu’s preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 19.
