SEATTLE - Two men whose hash oil manufacturing operation exploded on New Year’s Day 2014, were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to federal prison terms. Robby Wayne Meiser, 46, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and Bruce W. Mark, 62, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The men were ordered to pay over $97,000 in restitution for damage to the apartment building.
According to records filed in the case, on Jan. 1, 2014, Kirkland Fire Department units responded to reports of an explosion and fire at the Inglenook Apartments on 142nd Street in Kirkland. Both defendants suffered burns in the explosion. Butane gas used in the manufacturing of hash oil exploded and blew out windows on the structure, expelling debris some 25 feet away. The north wall of the apartment was displaced outward approximately 6 - 8 inches by the blast, and the roof was disconnected from that wall. On the inside, large gaps were seen between the ceiling and interior walls, and one interior wall had been moved about 10 inches. The sliding glass doors and frame were blown outward, away from the structure. The fire department condemned parts of the building due to structural concerns. Officers found 13 empty eight-ounce butane cans, and a box of 24 full eight-ounce cans in the apartment, together, with a marijuana grow and other implements used to make hash oil.
When the men were arrested in July 2014, investigators located a second marijuana grow at the home they occupied in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle, as well as a small amount of butane used in hash oil manufacturing. In November 2014, the men pleaded guilty to endangering human life while manufacturing controlled substances.
Federal charges have been filed in connection with four other hash oil operations - three of them resulting in explosions and fire. In one of the cases from Bellevue, Washington, an apartment resident was injured trying to escape the flames and later died following complications from her hospitalization. The defendants in that case are to be sentenced later this year.
The cases were investigated by multiple federal and local agencies including: the Drug Enforcement (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & (ATF), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bellevue Police Department, the Seattle Police Department, and the Kirkland Police Department.
