Federal agents recently seized more than 500 marijuana plants from a warehouse in Bridge City, arresting two men accused of overseeing a sophisticated growing operation.
The two men — both are named David Tran — were indicted last month in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on manufacturing and conspiracy charges.
The raid of the West Bank warehouse followed a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that included undercover drug purchases, wiretaps and surveillance of the warehouse and an adjacent residence. Federal authorities say the men acquired both properties and invested at least $100,000 renovating the nondescript warehouse, a former store, into an operation equipped with dozens of lights. The initial harvest had been planned for this month, according to court papers, but the DEA took both men into custody before the marijuana could be processed and distributed.
It’s not clear from court filings whether the defendants — one Tran is 31 and the other is 39 — are related. The younger Tran was convicted of marijuana cultivation in 2011 in Texas.
Attorneys for both defendants declined comment.
The feds tapped the younger Tran’s phone in August and recorded several calls involving the delivery of “bulk marijuana shipments” from Houston to Tran’s “criminal associates,” according to a search warrant.
Tran told one caller he had learned to cultivate marijuana while living in Denver for a year.
“I’m about to do that (stuff) down here,” he said, according to the warrant.
In another call, in early September, Tran explained that he had recently repaired the residence next to the warehouse on Bridge City Avenue so that he could live there and oversee the plants growing next door.
With the assistance of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, DEA agents raided the warehouse Nov. 7, seizing dehumidifiers, fans, tubes, lamps and other equipment. The authorities said they also found a 9 mm handgun and carted away four dozen paper bags containing 520 marijuana plants.
Both David Trans were at the Bridge City Avenue residence — near 15th Street — at the time of the search. The younger man claimed that he was the “brains of the operation” and denied the older Tran was involved, according to court papers.
But the DEA said in a criminal complaint that a “reliable confidential source” contradicted this claim, adding that the men were frequently seen together. The complaint noted that neither man was employed at the time of the raid.
credit:theadvocate.com