28 days ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - A former Bay Area Realtor and his girlfriend were among dozens of people swept up in a massive three-year drug ring investigation.
Former Daly City real estate salesman Dickson Hung, 35, has been charged with mail fraud and marijuana cultivation for his alleged role in the purchase and operation of 26 pot houses discovered in Stockton. Federal court records show Hung's girlfriend, Karen Lee, 29, bought two of the houses and recruited "straw" buyers to purchase other homes, defrauding lenders out of at least $15 million in the process.
Hung's license was revoked last year, according to the California Department of Real Estate.
Other cells of the drug ring operated pot houses in Elk Grove, Sacramento, Lathrop, Tracy and Modesto. Investigators said the operation was run from San Francisco's Chinatown.
51 pot houses have been identified in court documents. All but one eventually went into foreclosure.
The U.S. Attorney called a Thursday afternoon news conference at the federal courthouse in Sacramento to announce a total of four new indictments naming 18 suspects, bringing to 35 the number of people implicated in the valley pot house ring.
Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Gordon Taylor said the series of raids netted more than 24,000 plants with a potency drug agents had never seen before. He said wiring at all the houses bypassed electric meters, costing utility companies an estimated $200,000 per month.
Some of the suspects arrested in the early months of the investigation have already been sentenced. Ten people named in the indictments are fugitives, including Dickson Hung and Karen Lee. Most of the fugitives are believed to be in China.
U.S. Attorney Larry Brown said efforts are underway to seek China's help in returning the fugitives to Sacramento.
by George Warren, GWarren@news10.net
News10/KXTV
