$1M heist: ‘They were carrying weed out with a cop here’

CORVALLIS, Ore. (KOIN) — More than $1 million worth of marijuana material was stolen from Oregon Genetics — in Benton County — sometime overnight Tuesday.

Caleb Mata, the founder and CEO of the legal weed operation, said the burglars took off with 1,000 pounds of ready-to-sell marijuana and another 10 pounds of pure hash oil.

“Taking anything from someone is wrong, but $1 million — no matter which way you cut it is a lot of money to anyone,” Mata said.

Mata told KOIN 6 News that the suspects were caught on surveillance camera stealing from their warehouse. He points out that the video shows that one of the suspects is drastically shorter than the other. Since posting the video on Instagram, it has had close to 12,000 views, and Mata hopes someone recognizes the duo.

“They got away with a bunch of these black and yellow totes too, full of weed,” Mata said.

Based on the footage, Mata believes they spent about 15 minutes inside the warehouse — but spent another hour or 2 around the 6-acre property’s perimeter while making a huge haul. “Really the main thing is the more humans that we have with their eyes on the ground looking for this… its a million dollars worth of product …the amount of mass is gigantic..it could fill this room,” Mata said.

A sheriff’s deputy responded to the incident, but because of how big the property is — Mata said the deputy had no idea what was going on at the other end.

“That’s the worst part about it,” Mata said. “They were literally carrying totes of weed out in the open with a cop here. It’s weird to think a cop could have been here and responded at the same time the burglars were here.”

According to Mata, similar break-ins have happened — possibly with the same suspects — at other marijuana producers in the last couple of months.

The company is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those involved.

Mata hopes the video and reward — plus his specialized product will help track down the burglars.

“There’s no one else that makes oil this clear, so it would be obvious if you saw it,” Mata said.