The federal government has seized more than $5.7 million worth of properties in Oregon that were used for the cultivation of marijuana that a Houston man sold and distributed out of state.
Fayao “Paul” Rong, 53, was sentenced in federal court in Portland last July to two-and-a-half years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.
Rong led a drug-trafficking organization that operated marijuana grow houses in Clatsop, Columbia, Linn, Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, according to federal prosecutors. Fourteen properties were seized, and the owner of a 15th property paid the government $400,000 in lieu of forfeiture.
Rong bought the residential homes and converted them into indoor marijuana grow sites with hired help and then sold the marijuana outside of Oregon, according to federal prosecutors. None of the sites were licensed by the state to grow marijuana.
The more-than-year-long investigation kicked off after the state police became aware of excessive electricity use and several transformer explosions at the various homes, according to court records.
Rong had bought the homes using multiple identities and used them to process marijuana. In a 12-month period starting in August 2020, his drug trafficking ring sold more than $13.2 million in black-market marijuana, according to federal prosecutors.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, working with state police, raided 25 properties with search warrants in early September 2021, according to court records.
Investigators seized nearly 33,000 marijuana plants, 1,800 pounds of packaged marijuana, 23 guns, nine vehicles and more than $591,000 in cash.
When arrested, Rong told authorities that he periodically met with a “loosely organized group of Chinese individuals” at the Hong Kong Cafe restaurant in Portland to exchange information on how to operate indoor marijuana grows in Oregon and the group worked together to sell the marijuana on the black market, according to a federal affidavit.
Rong used other names and corporations as straw names to buy homes, pay for upgrades in utilities and pay utility bills in an effort to disguise his ownership of the homes, according to federal prosecutors.
The case demonstrates “the long reach of our commitment to holding drug traffickers accountable and mitigating the damage these criminal organizations inflict on neighborhoods and communities,” said Natalie Wight, Oregon’s U.S. attorney.
The proceeds of the forfeited properties are deposited in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Assets Forfeiture Fund and used to support crime victims and for a variety of other law enforcement purposes.
-- Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian or on LinkedIn.
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