A Lake Gaston area fugitive suspected of having an elaborate indoor marijuana operation has been charged in Oregon with possessing and allegedly manufacturing about 70 pounds of marijuana.

According to Oregon State Police  Sergeant Jeff Fitzgerald, on November 20, at approximately 5:12 p.m., an OSP trooper stopped a 2006 Lexus four-door displaying Oklahoma license plates for failure to drive within a lane of travel.  The driver, Jason Brian Bunch, age 37, from Williams, Oregon, was identified as being a fugitive wanted on a felony North Carolina warrant for producing and manufacturing marijuana.

The seized marijuana | Oregon State Police

Subsequent investigation during the traffic stop led to the discovery of approximately 70 pounds of marijuana inside the car.

The seized marijuana's estimated value is $175,000 and Bunch was also found to possess more than $6,000 cash and a small amount of cocaine.

Bunch was arrested and lodged in the Josephine County Jail on the following charges:

Fugitive from justice

Unlawful possession of marijuana

Unlawful delivery of a marijuana

Unlawful manufacture of marijuana

Unlawful possession of cocaine

Lieutenant Scott Hall of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office said in August officers served a search warrant where Bunch was living at Lake Gaston and found an elaborate indoor growing operation with a self contained watering system with climate control. “Everything was well maintained and well taken care of.”

Bunch, however, who is believed to have been a large marijuana manufacturer and seller in Halifax County, was not at home and authorities later learned he was in Oregon, Hall said today.

The sheriff’s office learned of the operation after the property owner who Bunch rented from came to check his property and found some problems, which Hall declined to elaborate on. “He found things to be not quite right.”