SNOHOMISH COUNTY A MARIJUANA HOTBED

Large Growing Operations Spread in Suburban Houses

EVERETT -- From the outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about
the big gray house next to Jackson Elementary School.

The lawn was growing a little tall and the white picket fence needed
a fresh coat of paint, but the three-story house didn't raise any
eyebrows along Federal Avenue in Everett.

Until the police showed up.

Investigators recently found signs of a dismantled indoor marijuana
growing operation hidden inside the $500,000 house. Police believe
they interrupted the growers as they were removing equipment used to
produce hundreds of plants.

The evidence led Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force detectives to
another indoor pot farm. About 340 marijuana plants were growing in
the upscale home on 44th Avenue SE, just outside the city limits.

Police say the houses raided in Everett are part of the continuing
trend of sophisticated marijuana-growing operations sprouting up in
the suburbs. Snohomish County now ranks second in the state for
indoor marijuana grows, and depending on how one does the math, the
value of the dope produced here could eclipse legitimate agriculture.

"It's definitely hit all parts of the state, primarily in Snohomish,
King and Pierce counties," said Lt. Rich Wiley with the Washington
State Patrol narcotics program. "Primarily it's 'B.C. bud' growers
who want to eliminate border issues. They are making an awful lot of
money doing it."

Washington has become one of the most prolific marijuana-producing
states in the nation, second now only to California, Wiley said.

Police in 2008 seized more than 580,000 marijuana plants from indoor
and outdoor growing operations. That's nearly twice what they found
in 2007 and more than 50 times what was seized in 1999.

"These aren't your mom and pop growers anymore, and it sure isn't for
medical marijuana. These are organized criminals," said Dave
Rodriguez, director of the federally funded Northwest High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Area Program in Seattle.

The biggest numbers of pot plants come from outdoor farms, primarily
on public land in the Columbia River basin. More than 200,000 plants
were seized last year in Yakima County alone.

Mexican drug cartels are primarily responsible for the large outdoor
grows in Eastern Washington. These are the same organizations that
traffic in methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine, Wiley said.

The majority of the state's indoor pot farms are found in the Puget
Sound area. The high-tech grows are being run by people connected to
criminal organizations in Vancouver, B.C., many with ties to
Southeast Asia, Rodriguez said.

The growers quietly are buying houses in the suburbs, converting them
into pot factories and raking in millions of dollars from America's
most-consumed illegal drug.

These groups also are responsible for smuggling Ecstasy into
Washington and are believed to be engaged in human trafficking and
weapons smuggling, Wiley said.

Big-Money Operations

Pot is a cash cow for organized criminals and is fueling other
illegal activities, said Douglas James, Assistant Special Agent in
Charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Marijuana
continues to generate more money than any other drug in the U.S.

The indoor grows with their highly sought-after marijuana are
particularly lucrative. Some have been found with up to 1,500 plants.
A marijuana plant grown indoors can yield up to a pound of
high-quality pot. It sells for as much as $6,500 a pound,
considerably more than marijuana harvested outdoors or dope smuggled
in from Mexico, according to authorities.

A high-producing house can yield millions of dollars in pot sales and
these criminal organizations typically operate several houses at
once, James said.

Snohomish County in 2008 had the second largest number of confiscated
indoor pot plants in the state, trailing only King County, according
police. More than 5,600 plants were seized from indoor grows here last year.

The Snohomish County plants had a potential street value of up $36.4
million for a single crop. High-tech grows can produce up to four
crops a year, James said. That means the potential value of indoor
marijuana grows found here could have been as high as $145 million a
year. By comparison, legitimate agriculture in the county produces
crops and livestock valued at $126.9 million a year.

Nationwide, marijuana continues to generate more money than any other
illegal drug in the U.S., Rodriguez said.

The amount of money involved increases the potential for violence,
authorities said.

More of the outdoor growers are arming themselves. Police last year
seized 78 guns from growers statewide. That's nearly double the
amount taken off growers in 2007.

Members of law enforcement worry that unsuspecting hikers enjoying
the outdoors could become victims of violence if they stumble across
one of these armed growers.

Violence erupted at a covert indoor grow operation in Everett in
2007. Two men planned to rob the dope house on Dexter Avenue. Instead
they executed a couple paid to tend the plants.

Environmental Hazards

The outdoor and indoor grows also are creating environmental hazards
to forests and neighborhoods, police said. The indoor grows can
destroy homes by a creating breeding ground for toxic mold or
presenting fire hazards. Homeowners or renters who grow dope indoors
often walk away from the house, leaving banks with expensive cleanup costs.

Outdoor grows are polluting natural resources with pesticides from
Mexico that are so harmful they are banned in the U.S., police said.

Pot production in Washington is high mainly because of the state's
location, according to the experts. Washington is an established hub
on the pipeline used by the Mexican drug cartels peddling heroin,
cocaine and meth. The state's vast remote public lands also attract
covert outdoor grows that in some cases yield up to 10,000 plants in
a single location.

That is now coupled with the burgeoning indoor growing operations.
Washington likely was selected because the command centers for those
criminal organizations are headquartered in neighboring Canada, James said.

Police suspect the organizations began setting up in Washington after
the terrorist attacks in 2001 led to tighter borders. Beginning in
2005, police began to first notice a trend of elaborate grows using
similar techniques found in the indoor farms in Canada, where pot is
estimated to be a $6 billion a year business, Rodriguez said.

"It became tougher to move the product over the border, so they
started moving the operations over the border," said Pat Slack, the
commander for the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force.

Last year police dismantled 218 indoor grows, and about 30 percent of
those were associated with Asian organized crime, Rodriguez said.

"There have always been indoor growers," Wiley said. "The ones we're
talking about are very technical and organized crime is behind these."

Authorities have discovered that the criminal groups have set up
bogus mortgage companies to purchase homes and operated garden
centers as fronts to supply the growers with equipment.

Federal authorities launched an extensive investigation into indoor
grows in 2007, leading to the arrests and convictions of dozens of
people connected to organized crime. The ongoing investigation,
dubbed "Operation Green Reaper" uncovered a complex web of suppliers
and financiers behind the indoor marijuana-growing business.

"We're not just going after the growers. We're working from the top
down to take out the whole criminal organization," James said.

'Hiding in Plain Sight'

The organizations buy houses in nice neighborhoods and convert them
into large pot farms. The grows often go unnoticed by neighbors, who
assume the houses are simply vacant, police said.

"They are hiding in plain sight," James said.

The growers have developed covert ventilation systems, masking the
pungent skunklike odor of growing pot. They steal electricity to
avoid suspiciously large utility bills. In some cases, people are
paid to live in the houses to tend the plants. They are rarely seen
by neighbors. Drug sales aren't conducted at the houses.

"I would never have guessed," said Jen Selders, who lives near the
house on Federal Avenue that was used for marijuana cultivation.
"It's unnerving and makes you wonder what else could be under your
nose. I suppose they try to blend in not to be caught."

Police went to the house after someone reported a possible break-in.
Neighbors became suspicious only after they saw men throwing large
bags into the back of a U-Haul truck. The neighbors believed the
house was vacant.

Officers spotted planter containers and dirt on the floor just inside
the front door. They later searched the house and discovered fresh,
green marijuana leaves, fans and other signs of an indoor grow. There
were no plants left. Detectives later learned that the previous owner
sold the house to a woman under suspicious circumstances.

The woman was promised $50,000 if she put her name on the purchase
agreement and deed. She lives in California and had never visited the
house until she received notices that the mortgage wasn't being paid.

Detectives then discovered that the man who sold the Federal Avenue
house owned another house. The house is in an affluent Everett
neighborhood, where decorative signs are posted reminding residents
to clean up after their dogs. Police raided the house and discovered
343 marijuana plants.

Detectives arrested the homeowner and another man believed to be the
"electrician" for the grows. They both have been charged with
manufacturing marijuana and defrauding a public utility. The
investigation is ongoing.

"I think we've become better at discovering and investigating
(marijuana grows)," said Everett police detective Rob Cracchiolo,
assigned to the task force. "Neighbors are paying attention, too."