Overview

• Two operators, Ted Chien and Han Quan Jiao, were indicted on five counts of murder along with multiple arson and controlled substance offenses in connection with fatal Irwindale and South El Monte incidents.
• Chien faces potential life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty and Jiao faces life in prison if convicted on charges including arson causing great bodily injury and drug manufacturing.
• Four former employees—Xiaolong Deng, Chengyan Xu, Christopher Reyes and Frank Herrera—were charged with conspiracy to manufacture concentrated cannabis and related drug offenses.
• Operation Sugar Diamond involved the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation, DEA and U.S. Postal Service agents serving warrants at nine suspected illegal extraction sites with 150 law enforcement personnel.
• Authorities say the deadly incidents underscore the persistent dangers of unregulated butane-based extraction despite California’s legal recreational cannabis market.