Yamhill County sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant at a rural property in the 14000 block of NE Stone Road near Newberg on 18 October 2022, after months of surveillance.[1][2] They seized approximately 76,930 pounds of processed marijuana (about 34.9 tonnes), the largest marijuana seizure in the history of the sheriff’s office.[1][2]
No licences or permits for growing or processing marijuana covered the address or anyone there, and investigators said the whole property had been converted to grow, store, process and package marijuana for shipment out of the area.[1] The site worked mainly as a receiving and processing facility, since the amount present far exceeded what the property could produce, with vehicles and trailers showing marijuana brought in for processing, packaging and sale.[1][2]
Arrests, guns, cash and wire transfers
Five adult men were arrested on the property and lodged in the Yamhill County Jail on drug trafficking and weapons charges.[1][2] Officers also recovered two AR-15-style rifles, a Kel-Tec shotgun and several handguns, plus about 80,000 dollars in cash.[1][2] Receipts showed large wire transfers from Oregon to the state of Michoacan in Mexico.[1][2] The sheriff’s office put the street retail value at about 76.5 million dollars in Oregon and 269 million dollars on the East Coast.[1]
