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 entered not guilty pleas in Colusa County Superior Court on Nov. 9.
Each of the men appeared before Judge Elizabeth Ufkes Olivera, with separate private attorneys, and was assisted by a certified Cantonese interpreter.
The men, ranging in ages from 43 to 56, were reportedly connected to a larger criminal organization within San Joaquin, Alemeda, and Madera Counties, allegedly run by a Stockton man by the name of Gaoyuao Huang, according to court documents.
Huang, who was under investigation since October of 2021 by the San Joaquin County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force, 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.
According to court documents, San Joaquin Narcotics Agent Jimmy Firtts, on March 25, followed the Mercedes from Stockton to a suspected grow operation in Alameda, where it reportedly stayed for one hour, before being driven to Oakland.
After the van left Oakland, it was driven to the old mill in Colusa around 1:30 PM, where it stayed for about an hour before leaving and returning to San Leandro.
The tracking device also showed the van was driven to Colusa on March 27, where it stayed about one hour around 9 AM before being driven back to San Leandro.
The 15,866 square foot facility sits on just over two fairly isolated acres along the levee of the Sacramento River, and had had several complaints from Colusa residents that an odor of marijuana was coming from that vicinity.
According to the statement of probable cause for a search warrant, filed by Colusa County Deputy John Thomas, an illegal growing operation had already been suspected, but Sheriff’s personnel never witnessed any comings and goings.
The Sheriff’s Office and Sacramento River Fire Protection Authority had been investigating a possible illegal grow since February, and had confirmed that the inactive rice mill, which was inaccessible, had no permits for any kind of business operation, but had recently installed several large new air conditioning units, which were visible.
According to court documents, the Colusa County Community Development Department was initially in communication with Yu Ching Bell Chang, who was listed as the PG&E customer, regarding the fire hazard and possible illegal cultivation of marijuana, but Chang stopped all communication when instructed to remove the equipment.
From a search warrant served for PG&E records, Chang, who is being investigated for electricity theft, paid $243.98 on March 28, while the mill was using enough electricity to power three grocery stores 24 hours a day, documents state.
On April 1, Agent Fritz served search warrants at the residence of Huang and his wife, Bo Zhu, where the Mercedes van was parked, the residence of Juwen Huang, and the residence of Yiming Chen, all in Stockton.
All three residences were reportedly found to be illegal indoor marijuana growing operations, from which 400 plants and 30 pounds of processed marijuana were located and eradicated, documents state.
On April 9, Sac River Fire Chief Jeff Winters notified the sheriff’s office of comings and goings, which included two separate vehicles arriving and leaving the premises after staying approximately 10 minutes.
The following day, Sgt. Arnold Navarro, of the Colusa County Sheriff’s Office Specialized Operations and Response Team, set up cameras facing the south-east perimeter and west from the cyclone fence, which also recorded a pickup truck arriving with several unidentified male suspects, who reportedly offloaded several large pressurized carbon dioxide canisters, typically used to extract THC oil from cannabis plants.
Armed with a search warrant issued by Colusa County Superior Court, and assistance from the San Joaquin County Task Force, the Sheriff’s Office SOAR team served a search warrant at the mill around 7 AM on April 21, which led to the arrest of three Central Valley members of the Chinese community, one New York resident, and one Chinese national, who is in the U.S. on a visa.
The Sheriff’s office located and eradicated 4,832 mature marijuana plants. According to the search warrant return, no weapons or other illegal substances were found.
Bo Sen Tan, 45, Hong Pin Zhen, 52, Guo Ming Zhang, 56, Xin Shi Yu, 45, and Zhou Gouhui Chou, 43, are charged with illegal cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The men, who are released on their own recognizance on the promise to obey all laws, are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 23, a delay largely due to availability of a Cantonese interpreter, while their attorneys work on a possible plea deal. â–