The five men charged in connection to the large illegal marijuana operation at the old rice mill on E. Main Street in Colusa last April each pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor cultivation charge in Colusa County Superior Court on Monday.
Bo Sen Tan, 46; Hong Pin Zhen, 53; Guo Ming Zhang, 57; Xin Shi Yu, 46; and Gouhui Chou, 44, were each sentenced to 30 days in Colusa County Jail after accepting a plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office that dismissed the felony charge of conspiracy to commit a crime.
The men appeared before Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson, with separate private attorneys, and were assisted by a certified Cantonese interpreter.
The men and their attorneys met with District Attorney Brendan Farrell for about an hour before settling the case. Because two of the men are residents of New York and one is a Chinese national in the country on a visa, Thompson gave them until April 24 to either report to the jail to serve out their sentence or make alternative work arrangements with the Colusa County Sheriff’s Office.
The men were also sentenced to one year probation and ordered to have no association with each other during their probation. The judge also ordered them to be searchable at any time for possession of controlled substances and to obey all laws.
All five men were reportedly connected to a larger criminal organization working mostly in San Joaquin, Alemeda, and Madera counties, allegedly run by a Stockton man by the name of Gaoyuao Huang, according to court documents.
Huang had been under investigation since October of 2021 by the San Joaquin County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force, and was followed to the Colusa property using a device placed on his 2021 Mercedes Sprinter van, which was authorized by a search warrant in that jurisdiction.
The Colusa County Sheriff’s Office SOAR team, with assistance from the San Joaquin County Task Force, served a Colusa County search warrant at the mill around 7 AM on April 21, which led to the arrest of men.
The Sheriff’s office located and eradicated 4,832 mature marijuana plants, officials said. No weapons or other illegal substances were found, according to court documents. â–