Quincy bust reveals drug lab, guns, explosives
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 5 months AGO
The Grant County Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team recently shut down a drug lab at a residence near Quincy, arresting the home’s owner and seizing 29 guns and three very dangerous drugs, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
COURTESY PHOTO/GCSO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | May 1, 2025 1:35 AM
QUINCY — A bust at a home near Quincy yielded guns, explosives and a multi-faceted drug manufacturing operation, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Jason Robert Besel, 43, of Quincy was arrested on various drug charges as a result of the bust.
The investigation by detectives from the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team at a residence in the 15000 block of Road 9 Northwest started April 21, according to GCSO Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman, following a domestic violence report at the residence the night before. As Besel was being arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault — domestic violence, deputies received information that drug manufacturing was taking place on the property, Foreman said.
Once deputies walked through the property and found that drugs were being manufactured there, they called in the Washington State Patrol SWAT team, which is responsible for clandestine drug lab response. The investigation was interrupted by the discovery of a hand grenade and several explosives. The WSP bomb squad determined that the grenade did not contain explosives. The other explosives were consumer- and commercial-grade fireworks and explosive-making materials. The bomb squad removed the explosive-making materials.
The fireworks were left at the home because there was no legal reason to remove them, the GCSO wrote in the statement.
Over the next couple of days, INET and the WSP SWAT Team found and removed a methamphetamine lab, a DMT lab and a psilocybin mushroom grow operation, according to Foreman. All were seized as evidence. The remnants of a marijuana grow operation were also found, but having no evidentiary value, it was left in place. INET seized 29 guns found inside buildings on the property, according to the statement.
DMT is a potent hallucinogenic drug classified as a Schedule I controlled substance in the 1970s due to its potential for misuse, potentially dangerous effects and potential for the development of psychological dependence, the GCSO wrote. DMT has no known medicinal uses and can only be legally obtained for research purposes with special permissions from the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration.
Besel was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing meth, manufacturing and distributing DMT and manufacturing and distributing psilocybin mushrooms, according to the GCSO statement. He has since been released from the Grant County Jail after posting $100,000 bail.
Apart from illegal marijuana grows, drug manufacturing in Grant County is very uncommon, Foreman said. He estimated it had been about 15 years since a methamphetamine lab had been discovered in the county. The reason, he said, is that Washington law tightly restricts the materials used in manufacturing the drug, making it easier to acquire meth trafficked across the border from Mexico.
The lab near Quincy came as a surprise, Foreman said.
“He was not on the radar,” Foreman said. “We may never have known that was happening there had the (domestic) incident not occurred.”
Anyone who suspects that drugs are being manufactured or distributed in Grant County is encouraged to call the INET Tip Line at 509-754-2011 ext. 2395, Foreman said. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”