EPHRATA — A Royal City man was charged in Grant County Superior Court after an illegal marijuana growing operation was found on his property outside of Royal City.

Stephen Brown, 27, of Royal City, faces charges of manufacturing marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture/deliver.

On Wednesday detectives with Grant County’s Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET) served a search warrant at a property in the 11600 block of Road 11 Southwest, outside of Royal City. Police contacted a woman at the scene and told her they had a search warrant for a shop and cargo trailer on the property. The woman said she lived at the Road 11 residence with her boyfriend, Brown, and said the shop was “his (Brown’s) thing,” according to police records.

The woman gave police permission to walk through the residence on the property and verify there were no other people inside the house. A detective reportedly opened a closet door in the master bedroom and found fertilizer and other chemicals that could be used in the manufacturing of marijuana. Brown’s girlfriend said the fertilizer was for Brown’s “work.”

Police entered the shop at the scene and located a “sophisticated” marijuana growing operation. The building reportedly contained 74 marijuana plants, numerous lighting systems, timers and large power supplies.

“There were also two expired medical marijuana certificates posted on the wall. One of the certificates was in Brown’s name and expired in 2015,” wrote a detective. “The other certificate was in another name and was also expired in February of 2016. The 74 plants that were observed are well over what would be allowed by law if the proper medical marijuana documentation was present.”

Brown eventually arrived at the scene and was taken into custody and transported to the Grant County Jail after he said did not have current medical marijuana certificates or documents. Police were granted an additional search warrant for the Road 11 residence and retrieved the fertilizers from the master bedroom. In a locked utility/laundry room inside the house police reportedly located another marijuana grow consisting of an additional 15 starter marijuana plants, lighting and marijuana growing items.

In addition, several explosive-like devices with fuses were found in a safe in the master bedroom. The items reportedly looked similar to dynamite in appearance and sources related to the family said the were “very old reservation fireworks.” The items were retrieved by a bomb technician with the Washington State Patrol. Numerous chemical, powders and packaging/shipping material were also found, according to police records.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.