LYNNWOOD — The robbery plan was no masterpiece.
For one, the woman’s acting terrified for the surveillance cameras wasn’t particularly convincing.
Then there was the tattoo. She pretended not to know the suspects — except one of them had her name inked on his arm.
A Lynnwood-area medical marijuana grower lost roughly $20,000 worth of product and supplies in the violent November holdup. Police allege it was set up by a woman who had briefly worked as a plant-trimmer at the man’s house just hours before.
The woman and one of the robbers were arrested Dec. 9. Both were booked at the Snohomish County Jail on $500,000 bail and were charged this week with robbery.
The Snohomish County sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit has served multiple search warrants in the ongoing investigation. At least one other suspect remains at large.
The robbery was reported about 12:30 a.m. Nov. 29 at the victim’s home north of Lynnwood. The grower, 43, is a felon who also owns a marijuana dispensary in Seattle, court records show.
In 2011, he was charged in Snohomish County and later convicted with felony marijuana trafficking. At the time, police tried to seize his Lynnwood-area house but were unsuccessful. They accused him of growing pot beyond the limits of his medical marijuana license.
The 21-year-old reportedly behind the November holdup was brought on as a trimmer by another of the victim’s employees. She arrived to help trim marijuana plants the afternoon of Nov. 28 — less than 12 hours before the robbery, according to a search warrant. While working, she was “constantly” on her cellphone and showed the other workers pictures of her “baby daddy,” a man named “Smiley.”
As the day wound down, the marijuana grower and some of his workers went out to dinner.
He got back to his house about 11:30 p.m. A silver Chrysler was parked nearby. Surveillance cameras later showed that it had been driving past his house multiple times while he was at dinner.
Soon afterward, the woman called the victim and asked to buy some of his pot. She returned to the house to make the transaction. As he was opening the front door for her to leave, two armed men rushed in.
While the men pointed their guns at the victim and pushed him into the kitchen, they ignored the woman, who closed the front door and stayed inside the house, according to the arrest reports. She calmly watched the robbers work for a few seconds before walking outside. Afterward, she looked up at a surveillance camera, she “tries to appear panicked,” police wrote.
The men struck the victim multiple times in the head with a handgun before taking $20,000 worth of marijuana and marijuana supplies. They drove away in the silver Chrysler. They also took the grower’s phone, his gun and his silver necklace.
The victim needed stitches for his head injuries.
One of the suspects was tracked down using social media and in jail booking records. “Smiley,” 23, has a felony for a gang-related drive-by shooting.
When police caught up with him, he reportedly had the victim’s necklace. The getaway car also was tracked down to an alley in north Seattle.
In 2010, a raid of the victim’s home found five pounds of marijuana drying in one bedroom, another six pounds in the garage and hundreds of plants.
The court case to seize his home was dismissed in 2011. The man was given 240 hours of community service in lieu of 30 days of jail time.
The community service was done at a Seattle pot store and the Lynnwood Food Bank.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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