Illegal butane honey oil lab busted in Watsonville
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION) The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office's Cannabis Licensing Office is investigating an illegal butane honey oil lab found in Watsonville.
On Thursday, detectives served a search warrant on Hangar Way and said they found more than 1,200 pounds of cannabis in a moving truck, 341 cannabis plants under cultivation, seven rifles that included four illegal assault rifles, two handguns and $50,200 in cash. Detectives said there was also an electrical bypass to steal power.
“On Hanger Way here we’ve had multiple illegal grow raids," NAPA auto parts employee Jeff Drake said. "Bringing crime where we have our business here, and just the idea of them getting into a gun fight with someone wanting to rob them or something makes it a threat to everyone around us.”
During a follow-up investigation, detectives said they found a related site conducting butane honey oil manufacturing. They served a search warrant on the 900 block of Browns Valley Road and found evidence that a lab had been moved recently. Investigators suspected that while detectives were serving the search warrant on Hangar Way, the lab was being moved from the Browns Valley Road location. Detectives said they found two more rifles, a handgun, processed butane honey oil, 124 pounds of cannabis and illegal vape cartridges.
This discovery comes after a large butane honey oil lab was found on Commercial Way in Live Oak last month. At that location, investigators said they found a large butane extraction unit, commercial cannabis processing machines, cylinders of butane, several types of extracted cannabis materials, 9,471 pounds of cannabis material, 915 illegal vape pens and evidence of commercial sales and distribution. The area around the lab was evacuated because of the hazardous materials.
“Illegal operations don’t have proper engineering control that a licensed facility does, so in a licensed facility the butane is stored properly in explosion proof rooms so if something were to happen it would exhaust all the material and it would prevent a larger explosion. In one of these unlicensed facilities there's none of the safety standards,” Santa Cruz County Licensing Manager Sam LoForti said.
The Sheriff's Office has been active this year in cracking down on honey oil labs shutting down about five and many other large cannabis busts.
“Over 90 search warrants in 2019 alone, and with newer laws pertaining to cannabis licensing this is a new unit for the sheriffs office, but it's performing very well,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff's spokesperson Ashley Keehn said.
The county said there will be charges against those involved with the honey oil labs.
