EVERETT – Three people have been arrested in connection with sophisticated marijuana growing operations in two south Everett houses, including one home where two people were shot to death early this month.
The houses, owners and people who lived there had come to the attention of federal drug agents about three weeks before Everett police found the body of Kevin Meas, 23, in the basement of one of the houses, according to federal court documents.
Linda Nguyen, 20, also was shot to death in the house, located in the 600 block of Dexter Avenue, investigators said.
No one has been arrested for the deaths and police have declined to comment about any link between the homicides and the drug operations.
Drug detectives found about 800 plants inside the house on Dexter Avenue. A second operation and an additional 400 plants were uncovered in a house in the 200 block of E. Beech Street.
The owners of that house, Thuy Thi Ngoc Nguyen and John Hien Nguyen, have been charged in U.S. District Court in Seattle with conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. They could face more than 10 years in prison.
Thuy Thi Ngoc Nguyen was ordered held in federal custody Thursday. John Hien Nguyen was arrested Wednesday in New Hampshire.
Hai Chi Nguyen, who lived at the Beech Street house, has been charged with manufacturing marijuana.
He told investigators he was paid $4,000 to take care of the plants and harvest the crop. He was released on bond earlier this week.
Hai Chi Nguyen is the brother of the woman who was shot to death.
The operations could have produced ten of thousands of dollars in marijuana, drug detectives say.
Investigators believe other people were involved in the indoor pot farms and they expect to make additional arrests.
“Three people didn’t do all of this by themselves,” Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force Sgt. Mark Richardson said. “We’re working to identify other people and round them up.”
A tip from someone in May about a marijuana growing operation in Seattle led investigators to the two Everett houses in June, according to court records.
The killings occurred about a month later.
“I believe the DEA was in the fledgling stages of the investigation when this happened,” Richardson said.
Hai Chi Nguyen told investigators that on July 2, John Hein Nguyen received a phone call from Thuy Thi Ngoc Nguyen. She told him that something happened at the house on Dexter Avenue and Linda Nguyen “is shot on the ground,” records show.
The two men found the woman just inside the front door.
They loaded her up in a car and drove to the house on Beech Street. Hai Chi Nguyen and his girlfriend later tried to drive his wounded sister to the hospital but called 911 when they became lost. Police arrived to find that Linda Nguyen had been shot twice in the head.
Detectives searched the house where she was found and discovered Meas in the basement. He also had been shot in the head.
Police have said that he and Linda Nguyen lived in the house on Dexter Avenue. Information about their connection has not been released.
Investigators are seeing a growing trend of sophisticated indoor growing operations that are being run by people with ties to Southeast Asia, Richardson said. They are organized groups that are growing and distributing high-quality marijuana in the area.
It appears that the Everett operations were set up by the same people, Richardson said. At both sites, power meters had been bypassed to hide excessive power use. Big electrical bills are one clue to investigators that a marijuana grow may be inside.
Investigators don’t believe the Everett operations are connected to people who are indicted under a separate case involving a south King County garden distribution center.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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