The Marijuana Mafia (Cashmere-Wenatchee)

I have only lived in the Cashmere/Wenatchee area since 2004-2005 and during one of those years, there were news articles about the discoveries of very large marijuana farms. If I remember correctly, at least 2 were in Cashmere (one closer to Wenatchee), and 1 was further up on the pass. The marijuana was grown under thick forest coverage, with sophisticated sprinker or drip hose watering systems and organized rows of plants... Sort of like something a former orchardist, orchard worker, or vineyard keeper would know how to do.

When the farms were "found", what did police do? They burned them, wasting no time at all. The quick announcements went out, that marijuana operations had been derailed.

Ummmm....Did anyone else have the same questions I had?

If it was clear someone had to tend to the plants, police would have known that individual(s) would be coming back. If police staked out the place, or put hidden cameras up, the caretaker could have been discovered, followed, and then his phone lines tapped and his contacts under surveillance, leading to the "owner" or main founder of the farms. But the police didn't do this. They immediately burned the marijuana, and there is no way they didn't know that burning the stuff would alert the caretaker and people involved. Did the police use blankets to make smoke signals too? Or were they too giddy from the fumes...

The police did not do this once, they did it about three times. It wasn't a mistake. Why would police do this, unless someone in charge had an interest in protecting the kingpin? It would be interesting to find out who issued the directive.

I believe someone in the police department knows the entrepreneurs personally. Money and politics are involved. When a citizen stumbled across the farms on a hiking adventure, and gave the police the tip, police knew they had to do something. But they burned the evidence to sabotage any chance of a real investigation. Can't catch the "bad guys" now!

In the meantime (I love the irony), petty dealers are booked and jailed left and right, and citizens caught with even a small possession too. Think about the time and county money that goes into just one investigation, prosecution, and sentencing for a minor drug offense. Add that up times 5. I don't know the actual rates, but imagine the time and expense for the prosecutions and public defenders for just 5 individuals every, say, two weeks. Yet they let the big fish go.

When I moved here, a family member I didn't know well, but whom I believed, who had once been a dealer themself, told me the town was messed up. In 2004, they said one of the judges for Chelan County was a buyer, and a probation officer too. They wouldn't give me names. I was also told a big business owner, involved in a lot of politics in the area, was in on one of the "plantations". This family member had dealt firsthand and didn't have a reputation for exaggeration, and while they were moved to speak about the hypocrisy when I tried to draw them out, they refused to "snitch". At that time, they believed even that much info, would stay with me, and didn't know about my activist/whistleblowing ways. They were not trying to expose anyone by telling me.

So who ARE the police protecting, and what are they getting out of it in exchange?