Kooshawn Shokraei, Keyan Shokraei and Brian Sommers (VCSD)
Ventura County – While the recreational use of marijuana and its derivative products may soon be thoroughly decriminalized by the California State Legislature, many local area jurisdictions continue to enforce the laws still on the books.
Ventura County appears to be no exception to the current protocols for strict enforcement of those laws, particularly as they pertain to drug processing methods deemed to be a hazard to public safety.
oil lab (VCSD)
One such violation involves the processing of “butane honey oil,” used to extract highly concentrated THC from marijuana and then converting it into a more potent form of cannabis. The process of extraction involves dangerously volatile solvents, including ethanol, propane, and butane, all under high pressure. The risk of explosive combustion with their use is extreme, and of reasonable concern to those dedicated to public safety.
Those concerns led detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department West County Street Narcotics Team, the Ventura County Combined Agency Team, and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force on the trail of Somis residents Keyan Shokraei, 38, and Kooshawn Shokraei, 30, as well as 23-year-old Camarillo resident Brian Sommers. According to VCSD spokesman Sgt. Guy Moody, by June 23rd, law enforcement had acquired sufficient information on the trio’s activities at the Shokraeis’ residence for the issuance of a search warrant of the premises.
It was late on the afternoon of the 23rd when law enforcement showed up at the Heatherton residence which Moody described to the media as “converted into a very elaborate Butane Honey Oil (BHO) lab active and in various stages of processing.”
All three suspects were promptly taken into custody while detectives secured the premises and “began investigating and processing the lab,” which took their team the entire night to “render the home safe.”
Pursuant to their search and investigation, the cops seized no less than 209 pounds of marijuana, 26 pounds of concentrated cannabis and “a sum of U.S.currency believed to be proceeds of concentrated cannabis sales.”
With that evidence in hand, the Shokraei brothers and Sommers were transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on charges of conspiracy and manufacturing concentrated cannabis, with their bail set at $50,000 each.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department
