By Alicia Cruz
The New Jersey Newsroom.com
New Jersey State Police arrested a 63-year-old fugitive wanted since February in connection with what police are calling the largest indoor marijuana production bust in the State's history.
Back in February, while on routine patrol, officer Thomas Lucasiewicz's schnoz caught a whiff of burning marijuana in the air. Thick and pungent, Lucasiewicz followed his nose until he spotted a thick stream of smoke spewing from the chimney of a single-story ranch style home in an affluent Middlesex neighborhood.
The officer had just uncovered the largest, and by far, the savviest indoor cannabis production operation in the history of the state of New Jersey. Behind the door of a home leased to 44-year-old Thu Nguyen, lay a $10 million cannabis operation that was so sophisticated the individuals were bypassing utility meters in order to not raise the suspicion of the utility company.
The seizure netted police approximately 1,064 plants, 50 pounds of packaged marijuana in the homes garage and the arrest of three people.
The fugitive, Nhung Thach, a Cambodian native, who now resides in Pennsauken was taken into custody at the Thomas Edison Service Area off of the New Jersey Turnpike in Woodbridge around 1 p.m. Monday by the State Police Fugitive Unit with the help of the U.S. Marshal's Regional Task Force.
Thach, who made her first appearance in court Tuesday, appeared glum as she sat on the witness stand with her hands clasped in front of her as if in prayer and listened intently as Superior Court Judge Stephanie M. Wauters explained the charge she was facing aloud: conspiring to operate a controlled-dangerous-substance production facility.
Judge Wauters then asked Thach if she understood the charge. Through an interpreter, who listened to the proceeding by telephone, Thach replied, "I don't know. I didn't know anything about this, and the other person tried to ask me to help, but I didn't know anything."
Judge Wauters then read detailed descriptions of the charges explaining to Thach that she is charged with conspiring with Tuan Dang, Ngoc Bui and Thu Nguyen to operate an indoor, marijuana-production facility from which more than 100 marijuana plants, heat lamps and a ventilation system were found.
In addition, Judge Wauters stated the complaint read that Thach, allegedly "without permission or authorization did shunt the wire leading to the meter for the purpose of recording the improper amount of electrical current to the residence."
The crimes occurred on or about Feb. 19 in Stafford, the judge said.
Wauters told the defendant her bail will be reviewed, and if it is not lowered, she would be entitled to a formal bail hearing a week from her first appearance. At the request of Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone, Judge Wauters ordered Thach to surrender her passport should she be released on bail, which was set at $750,00. Thach remains in custody at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River.
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