JUNE 8, 2015
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
A man who joined two tech workers in running a hash oil
operation that exploded in 2013, destroying a Bellevue apartment building and
leading to the death of a former mayor, was sentenced to nine years in prison
Monday.
Prosecutors say butane gas used to make the hash oil
exploded in the Hampton Greens Apartments on Nov. 5, 2013. Several people were
injured trying to escape the fire.
One of them was Nan Campbell, an 87-year-old former Bellevue
councilwoman and the city's first female mayor. She was sleeping in another
unit when the explosion happened.
"It was terrifying to see that and think about what our
mother must have been going through trying to escape from the building and what
the other people had to go through trying to get out," said daughter Patty
Campbell.
Nan Campbell tripped as she escaped the flames, broke her
pelvis and died of complications from the injuries two weeks later.
Two more residents were left with broken bones after they
had to jump from their apartments. One of them told the court in a letter that
she is still in pain and will never be able to run or play soccer again.
On Monday David Richard Schultz II, 33, the man responsible
for causing all of that human misery, appealed for mercy in Federal Court.
Schultz admits he'd been teaching two men to extract hash
oil from marijuana in the apartment that blew up. He said he regrets what
happened but was desperate to support his twin sons.
"I'm sure he's sorry, it doesn't bring back our
mother," said Patty Campbell.
Nor does it explain why Schultz continued his illegal
enterprise in California before being caught.
"You have burns, you're hurt, you've blown up and
apartment and then you're going to California and doing the same thing. It's
like he didn't learn," said Ann Campbell Spangler, Nan Campbell's other
daughter.
U.S. District Judge James Robart hopes Schultz will learn
during nine years in federal lock-up because Nan Campbell couldn't beat her
final opponent.
"There were too many internal injuries… just too much
for an 87-year-old to take," said Patty Campbell.
Federal prosecutors and Judge Robart used the sentencing of
Schultz as an opportunity to remind people that Washington state's marijuana
legalization does not permit all marijuana-related activities.
"We need to educate the public that the legalization of
marijuana in the state of Washington is not unlimited and it does not include
the manufacturing of homemade hash oil," said Robart.
Prosecutors say they have charged a dozen people with
illegally manufacturing butane hash oil in the past year. They compare hash oil
operations to meth labs.
"Among other things, they involve the unauthorized use
of dangerous solvents, and especially when located in homes and apartment
buildings, pose a serious risk of death and property damage as so disastrously
happened in this case," said Annette Hayes, U.S. Attorney.
Prosecutors say Daniel James Strycharske, 29, and Jesse D.
Kaplan, 32, rented the apartment and allowed Schultz to set up the equipment
with the goal of selling the hash oil. They will be sentenced next month.
All three men involved were also injured in the explosion.
Source: http://www.king5.com