Trio faces trafficking charges

NORDMAN — The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit cut down another marijuana growing operation on Tuesday and arrested three people.

Andrew Christov Conev, 24, Caroline Brent Koch, 53, and Rickey Ronald Williams, 40, are charged with marijuana trafficking.

Judge Barbara Buchanan set Conev’s bail at $100,000. Bail for Koch and Williams was set at $20,000. A public defender was appointed to represent Williams. Koch’s application for a legal counsel at public expense was denied and Conev indicated he would obtain private counsel, court records show.

Narcotics detectives searched Koch’s Priest Lake home and found 329 plants, most of which were growing outdoors, according to court documents. The search occurred at 577 Williams Drive, across Highway 57 from the Priest Lake Golf Course.

The growing operation was reportedly discovered earlier, when deputies responded to the home after dispatchers received a report of gunshots being fired.

A sheriff’s detective told a judge on Wednesday that the marijuana odor was distinct and some of the plants were in plain sight, court records said.

A higher bail for Conev (pronounced Sah-Nev) was sought because he was the growing operation’s mastermind, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Louis Marshall told Judge Barbara Buchanan on Wednesday, records show. Koch, who is Conev’s mother, and Williams played supporting roles in the operation, Marshall said.