Three people are facing multiple charges including kidnapping and drug trafficking after law enforcement officers were called to a rural address near Elmore City Monday evening.
Multiple calls about a disturbance at a residence on East County Road 1650 came into the Garvin County E911 Center around 5 p.m. Monday, according to the Garvin County Sheriff’s Office. Elmore City and Garvin County were dispatched.
When officers arrived on scene, they made contact with a man who told them he had been held against his will. He said he lived at the residence and had been working there for three months. He said he feared the other occupants at the address, and they would not let him leave. He claimed he had been able to get out of the house with a bag of his personal belongings and had run across the street to call for help.
The other occupants at the residence were identified as Xiaobing Chen, Xuechun Ruan and Quan Zhao.
After obtaining consent from the owner of the residence, Garvin County deputies entered the premises to confirm there was no one else in the house. While inside, deputies observed multiple firearms and a large amount of processed marijuana in plain view.
The Sheriff’s Office confirmed with OBNDD that there was no active registration for a legal marijuana operation at the address and obtained a search warrant. Upon executing the search warrant, deputies found 1,560 pounds of a processed, packaged green leafy substance that yielded a presumptive positive field test for marijuana, an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency and two firearms. The Sheriff’s Office estimates the 1,560 pounds of marijuana would have a street value of $2 million.
Chen, Ruan, and Zhao were arrested and charged with kidnapping, aggravated trafficking in illegal drugs, possession of CDS without a tax stamp, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and acquiring drug proceeds.
