San Bernardino County, California: 13 Charged, Including 8 Chinese Nationals, in 15,000-Plant Marijuana Grow at Chinese-Owned Barstow Warehouse
The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office in California filed felony charges on July 2, 2025, against 13 people accused of illegally growing marijuana and evading cannabis taxes inside a warehouse in the City of Barstow owned by a Chinese countertop manufacturer. Prosecutors said police seized more than 15,000 marijuana plants from 10 rooms at the site; the 13 defendants include eight Chinese nationals and former Barstow Mayor Paul Anthony Courtney.
The case began with a raid on July 7, 2022. Acting on a tip from a city building inspector, Barstow police searched the warehouse complex at 2989 Lenwood Road, part of a 75-acre property owned by American Quartz Group, a countertop maker headquartered in China. Officers seized more than 15,000 plants and documented 14 people at the site. After a multi-year investigation, the District Attorney filed charges on July 2, 2025.
The eight Chinese defendants are Ming Fang Wu, 49; Yong Chao Huang, 59; Wo Shun Yang, 53; Cui Ping Zhang, 66; En Dan Li, 27; Ai Qin Lin, 59; Han Jun Chen, 37; and Hong Wei, 65. According to court records and prosecutors, none of the eight has appeared in court; bench warrants have been issued for their arrest and their whereabouts are unknown. Supervising Deputy District Attorney Cary Epstein said on August 22, 2025: "I have no specific information about their current location. If they are arrested, they will be brought before the court for arraignment and the court will determine their custody status at the time." The case remains open until the defendants are arrested or appear voluntarily.
The remaining defendants have appeared and pleaded not guilty: Courtney on July 31, 2025, in Victorville Superior Court; brothers Jordan, Zachary and Jacob Woolsey of Canyon Lake on August 12; and Natasha Lyn Stratton on August 7. All who appeared were released on their own recognizance. The Woolseys said they rented the site from American Quartz and had applied for, but not yet received, a city cultivation permit, and were dropping off supplies on the day of the raid.
According to police reports, several Chinese workers at the site said they had found the jobs through Platform 168, an app widely used by Chinese speakers to find work and housing. They said they were picked up in the middle of the night, had worked at the warehouse for about two weeks cleaning, watering and feeding plants and cooking for other workers, and were never paid.
Courtney's connection to the warehouse is a second focus of the case. In a probable-cause declaration, Epstein wrote that a security guard said Courtney came to the site monthly, driving through the gate and entering through the employee entrance; an American Quartz employee said she saw him about twice a month; and investigators reviewing surveillance video noted a newer-model Bentley with a customized plate reading "#PACE1" leaving a bay door. Courtney confirmed the car is his and that the plate refers to his janitorial company, PACE Services. He denies any involvement in illegal cultivation, saying that as mayor he visited the city's major businesses monthly, that American Quartz was one of them, that he knew nothing of the grow, and that he learned of the charges only when a reporter called.
A supplemental investigation by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration concluded that the defendants and the property owner had obtained no cannabis cultivation license from the state Department of Cannabis Control and no cannabis tax permit, evading cannabis excise taxes — the basis for the tax-evasion counts.
According to a July 2026 investigation by the Daily Caller News Foundation, the charges against Courtney were dismissed in March 2026 after he pleaded no contest to an added minor violation. The cases against the remaining defendants continue, and the eight Chinese defendants remain at large.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加州 Barstow 市航拍（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 4.0
