SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Springfield Police seized 143 pounds of marijuana flower and 5 pounds of cannabis extract with a combined street value of $1 million Monday.
Officers unearthed the drugs from inside plastic decorative rocks, Lt. Scott McKee said.
Investigators allege Curran Millican Manzer, 36, sealed the marijuana inside the plastic rocks to ship to a state where marijuana is not legal, McKee said. He declined to identify the state due to an ongoing investigation in partnership with the DEA.
Money would then be shipped back to Manzer, McKee said. Investigators believe he received $150,000 over the past 4 weeks.
Police launched the investigation a month ago based on a tip that Manzer was growing and shipping marijuana from his business, Curran’s Custom Taxidermy.
Springfield Police used the Marion County Sheriff’s Office K-9 drug sniffing dog Milos to check one of the boulders, McKee said.
Police obtained a search warrant after the dog alerted its handler, Deputy Todd Swenson, to the presence of marijuana.
A search turned up plastic boulders packed with cannabis products, McKee said.
Manzer does have licenses to grow some marijuana in Oregon, McKee said. But shipping marijuana out-of-state – even to a state where marijuana is legal – is against the law, McKee said.
Police booked Manzer into the Lane County Jail on charges of Unlawful Delivery, Possession and Manufacture of marijuana; and a felony charge of Laundering a Monetary Instrument.
credit:nbc16.com