What a woman believed were bombs, were plastic PVC tubes which may have been used to extract THC from the marijuana.
(KEIZER, Ore.) - A house on Newberg Drive North that has been raising a lot of attention in Keizer over a legal medical marijuana grow located close to a high school, is back in the news again. Keizer Police say it stems from a former resident's 911 call on Wednesday afternoon.
Resident Anthony BeaselyMegan Lauch told police she spotted PVC tubes in the residence, and thought they were pipe bombs. The resident, Anthony Beasley, was not home at the time police were called, according to Captain Jeff Kuhns of Keizer Police.
"Officers from the Keizer Police Department responded and made contact with Ms. Lauch within 5-minutes of receiving this information. Responding officers confirmed the information Ms. Lauch had reported and then requested the Salem Police Department Bomb Squad respond to further examine the suspected explosive devices."
But further examination of the devices with the assistance of a robot allowed bomb technicians to learn that they were not explosive devices, Kuhns said.
"After one of the devices was disrupted officers discovered the PVC pipe was not an explosive device. They discovered the inside of the PVC pipe was filled with Marijuana. Further examination of the second device revealed the same; it too was filled with Marijuana."
Kuhns says the pipes had been taken outside by officers where they could be disrupted through a controlled detonation. Beasley's residence has been a hotly contested notion in Keizer, city officials were very uncomfortable with the outdoor grow site's proximity to the high school.
Officers arriving on scene believed there may have been an active pipe bomb in the residence"This is the same residence that has been the subject of recent media reports discussing a medical Marijuana growing operation near McNary High School, and that nine Marijuana plants were reported as stolen by Anthony Beasley on October 10th," Kuhns said.
In explaining how she ended up inside the house to start with, Lauch told officers she previously resided at this residence and returned on October 17th to collect some of her personal property. After entering the residence she told officers she observed what she thought were two pipe bombs sitting on a coffee table in the living room.
Kuhns says that although the resident Anthony Wyatt Beasley, was not at the residence when officers made contact with Ms. Lauch, he heard about the police and bomb squad presence at his residence and contacted 911.
"Mr. Beasley reported the PVC pipes were not pipe bombs or explosive devices. He said the tubes were being used to extract THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) from the medicinal Marijuana." Kuhns says officers did not contact Beasley in person at that time and the investigating officers left the residence a short time after the devices were found not to be explosives.
Officers enter to search the homeKuhns says the investigation of this incident continued on Thursday, October 18th and Friday, October 19th.
"Investigators obtained a search warrant earlier today for the residence at 5152 Newberg Drive North that authorized them to search for items associated with the unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance. A search warrant was requested because investigators believe Mr. Beasley was unlawfully manufacturing a Schedule I controlled substance within 1000 feet of a school."
Specifically, Kuhns says investigators had probable cause to believe Mr. Beasley was using medicinal Marijuana to manufacture hashish or hash oil using an extraction method that utilized the PVC pipes and other materials. Hashish or hash oil is a Schedule I controlled substance. Unlawfully manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance within 1000 feet of a school is a Class A felony.
Members of the Keizer Police Department executed the search warrant at about 1:30 PM friday afternoon. Nobody was home when officers arrived.
Members of the Keizer Police Department located Anthony Beasley in Keizer later in the afternoon and interviewed him. At the conclusion of the interview he was placed under arrest for one count of Unlawful Manufacture of a Controlled Substance within 1000 feet of a school.
Mistaken Pipe Bombs in Keizer Were Marijuana ContainersSalem-News.com