HELENA – A Missoula business owned by a former University of Montana quarterback was among 12 western Montana locations raided by federal agents this week as part of a marijuana trafficking investigation.
A recently unsealed search warrant authorized federal agents to search 406 Motoring Automotive Specialists, a Missoula auto customizing business owned by former Griz quarterback Jason Washington. It called for the search and seizure of any marijuana, paraphernalia, firearms, records, receipts, cell phones and computers on the premises.
A separate civil seizure warrant allowed federal agents to seize money in a First Montana Bank account under Washington’s name.
The warrants do not say if anything was taken from the business and bank account, nor do they accuse Washington of a crime. An affidavit explaining the reason behind the raids is still under seal by U.S. District Court in Missoula.
Messages left for Washington at his business were not returned on Friday. A man who answered the phone at 406 Motoring acknowledged the raid happened but declined to speak about it.
A statement released by the U.S. attorney’s office said the 12 warrants executed Wednesday were “the culmination of a 12-month multi-agency investigation into the drug trafficking activities of a criminal enterprise operating in the state of Montana.” U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Jessica Fehr on Friday declined to comment on the investigation.
Federal agents carried out the searches on Wednesday in Missoula, Kalispell, Whitefish and Somers. The unsealed warrants show that the locations searched included five homes, five businesses and two warehouses.
Three of the businesses named in the warrants are medical marijuana providers, but others named include businesses such as 406 Motoring that have no apparent ties to the industry that has been the subject of a federal crackdown this year. Four other warrants were issued to seize bank accounts.
Washington started five games for the Grizzlies in 2005 after transferring from Bowling Green. But he dislocated his right shoulder and only played in a part of one other game that season.
He had surgery and sat out the 2006 season, then was kicked off the team the following year for reasons Coach Bobby Hauck did not disclose.
Washington said at the time that he was removed from the team after allegedly missing a training-room treatment and two weekend conditioning workouts.
In a promotional video released by 406 Motoring in 2009, Washington says he started the company out of a storage facility in 2006 and now has locations in Missoula and Butte.
“I saw there was a niche market, I saw there was a need for the custom end of things,” Washington says in the video.
In March, federal agents executed 26 search warrants against medical marijuana providers across the state, resulting in several arrests. Those raids cast a pall over what had been a booming medical marijuana industry in Montana and caused many providers to shutter their operations.
Several medical marijuana operators have pleaded guilty to federal drug charges since then raids, but others say they were complying with the state’s medical marijuana law and are fighting the charges.
Fehr declined to say whether this month’s raids are a continuation of the investigation that led to the March raids.