CYRIL — Felony charges have been filed for what investigators called an illegal marijuana growing operation involving straw ownership.
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) Special Agent Zhiang Zhang stated the investigation began Nov. 3 when visiting a Cyril location to make sure there was no marijuana growing activity, according to the probable cause affidavit. There were two pending applications for OBN registration, but they had never been approved, according to the agent.
One of the marijuana manufacturing businesses submitted for registration was Cyril Rays LLC and the other is Bright Cyril LLC. The 75 percent owner and 25 percent owner on both applications are Jeffery Moyer and Cao Yang, respectively, according to the affidavit. Moyers and Yang signed the notarized affidavit for ownership of both companies on April 28.
Zhang learned there had been four applications for registration submitted for a marijuana grow operation, Golden Sunshine OK LLC. One was denied in July 2021. The second was submitted in October 2021 and it was denied in March.
“The reason the first two applications were denied was because OBN Agents have begun an investigation on straw ownership on OBN registration for marijuana manufacturing business,” Zhang stated. “Non-Oklahoma residents would ask people in the local area to be the 75 percent owner on the application and use their information to obtain OMMA (Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority) license and OBN registration. The 75 percent owner never got involved in the daily operation at the marijuana manufacture business.”
The two 75 percent owners on the first two registration applications were identified as straw owners and their names have shown up on dozens of registrations for marijuana manufacture businesses, according to the affidavit. As a result of the OBN investigation, Zhang stated, both straw owners surrendered all registrations of which they are 75 percent part owner.
Zhang, who went to investigate, stated there is a residence with no fence around the property and a few greenhouses behind the home. Two vehicles were parked there.
While checking the house to see if anyone was inside, Zhang stated he saw several more greenhouses in back, the affidavit states. There appeared to be marijuana plants growing from pots inside. Other agents confirmed and documented what was seen before leaving.
OBN Agents returned to the property on Nov. 10 and spoke with the facility manager, Zili Chen, who claimed to be awaiting OBN approval of the registration application submitted in March, the affidavit states. Chen also said there were no marijuana plants at the location, Zhang stated.
Agents conducting a walk-through found otherwise, according to Zhang. Agents went through a metal building that serves as a grow facility, as well as several hoop houses where “hundreds of immature marijuana plants” were discovered, according to the affidavit. Hundreds more seedlings also were found inside the house on the property.
OBN agents returned a week later with a search warrant. Three plastic bags containing marijuana buds, three large plastic bags containing ketamine, and two carts of marijuana seeds were discovered in the house, the affidavit states. Three immature plants also were located in the sleeping area of a semi-truck parked on the property.
“Unsurprisingly, the marijuana plants and seedlings that OBN Agents observed during the previous inspection were moved out of the hoop houses and residence,” Zhang stated.
A return to the property on Dec. 12, which still not actively registered, revealed “at least 200 immature plants in the hoop houses and in excess of 100 marijuana seedlings” inside the house, according to the affidavit. Two bags of marijuana buds each weighed exactly one pound that appeared consistent with marijuana trafficking, Zhang stated. There also were documents found that showed the location had been used for multiple attempts to obtain OBN registration, according to investigators.
Zhang later learned that Moyer has been in the Caddo County jail since Aug. 12 charged with 14 counts of child molestation. Moyer is accused of repeated abuse of the youth between April 2016 and April of this year.
A monthly expense log revealed Cheng has been working at the location since the company, Zephyr Science & Technology LLC, purchased the property. Yang is identified as the registered agent for the company and Cheng is paid a salary of $4,000 per month, the affidavit states.
Arrest warrants for Moyer, Cheng and Yang were issued Dec. 15, records indicate.
Moyer, 32, of Cyril, made his initial appearance Monday in Caddo County District Court where he was charged with felony counts of cultivation of controlled substance and obtaining a signature or property under false pretenses, records indicate. He remains in jail on $700,000 bond for the child sex abuse allegations and another $5,000 for the latest charges.
Yang, 55, of San Jose, Calif., is wanted for felony counts of cultivation of controlled substance and obtaining a signature or property under false pretenses. Cheng, 59, of Cyril, is wanted for cultivation of marijuana. Records indicate neither person is in custody.
The OBN has been involved in large-scale law enforcement operations investigating suspected illegal marijuana growing operations around the state this year. Director Donnie Anderson said in a statement following a large-scale take down earlier in 2022 that agents are sending “a clear and powerful message” to those trying to conduct criminal enterprises within the state’s legal medical marijuana business structure.
“My agency is committed to aggressively targeting and dismantling these marijuana trafficking organizations that threaten the safety and well-being of our citizens and the law-abiding marijuana businesses in our state,” he said in an earlier statement.
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