Updated at 7:21 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2007
2 Big Island men charged after big marijuana bust
Advertiser Staff
A Big Island man and his son were charged today with commercial promotion of marijuana.Mark Anthony Heuer, 48, of Kalapana Seaview Estates and Sequoia Orion Heuer, 24, of Hawaiian Paradise Park are being held at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center on bails of $1 million and $500,000, respectively.
Mark Heuer was charged with two counts of first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and two counts of drug paraphernalia.
Sequoia Heuer was charged with three counts of first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, one count of second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and three counts of drug paraphernalia.
The men were arrested Tuesday in a police raid of a ranch above the Kalapana Blacksands subdivision in Puna.
In a warrant search, police seized 869 marijuana plants ranging from seedlings to 4 feet high from two separate indoor-grow operations.
Evidence seized led investigators to do three additional search warrants in the Hawaiian Paradise Park and Kalapana Seaview Estates subdivisions.
At the Paradise Park home, vice officers recovered an additional 8.45 pounds of dried marijuana packaged in one-ounce and half-pound quantities for distribution.
Officers also seized two pickup trucks, one sedan, one jet ski and one all-terrain vehicle for forfeiture proceedings.
