Father, son pot dealers from Seattle sentenced to federal prison

A father and son from Seattle were each sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for trying to sell marijuana on the black market, among other charges.

In a release from the U.S. Justice Department, the pair was sentenced to 30 months for violating Washington state’s marijuana production regulations.

Qixian Wu, 59, and Yong Cong Wu, 30, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, the release from U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said.

At Tuesday’s sentencing, the judge said the men knew what they were doing.

“Even after multiple visits from state regulators, the Wu family continued to grow and sell marijuana illegally – some of it likely tainted with illegal pesticides,” Gorman said in the release. “By seeking licensing under the regulatory scheme — while not complying in any meaningful way with this system — the Wu family not only violated federal law, but also, threatened the viability of the state’s approach to the legalization of marijuana in Washington.”

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Regulators began noticing irregularities in reports from Wu’s licensed marijuana production business — New Direction — located on West Marginal Way SW.

The problems began to emerge as early as 2016, according to inspectors. Officials said some of the product was not appropriately tagged or tracked. Samples taken in September were tested and found to be tainted with illegal pesticides.

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Despite the inspections, the Justice Dept. said the Wu family did not change operations and they continued to falsify reports with respect to the marijuana produced at New Direction.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.