(Photo credit: Sharon Bishop-Baldwin/Sand Springs Line).
The operator of an Oklahoma marijuana extraction facility has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after an explosion killed two men and damaged more than 20 nearby businesses.
Ryan Bassham, 35, turned himself in Sunday after the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office obtained a felony arrest warrant Friday. Bassham was booked into the Tulsa County Jail and released after posting bonds totaling $2 million.
The explosion occurred shortly after 1 a.m. on August 27 at SoloS Extracts in the Morrow-Gill Business Complex in Sand Springs. Stephen Scott was found dead at the facility, while Michael Newman was taken to a hospital and later died.
Preliminary findings indicate that the explosion occurred during an active marijuana manufacturing process, according to an affidavit filed in the case. Newman reportedly told emergency medical personnel that the extraction area was “not ventilated enough” and that “he unplugged something and the building blew up.”
Investigators allege Bassham did not possess a valid Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority license or Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics registration. The affidavit says he was therefore illegally manufacturing controlled substances at the facility. Bassham had reportedly been in the process of purchasing the business but was not listed as its legal registrant when the explosion occurred.
Ryan Bassham (photo credit: Tulsa County Sheiff’s Office).
Sand Springs Fire Marshal Mike Nobles had ordered the facility to stop operating approximately one week before the explosion after it failed a fire inspection. Nobles told investigators that liquid propane, equipment and other hazardous materials found after the blast had not been present when the facility underwent a certificate-of-compliance inspection in January.
The owner of an adjoining business also told investigators that a sensor detected extremely high carbon dioxide levels about two months before the explosion. Because the businesses shared a wall, the owner went to alert Bassham and two workers and allegedly became lightheaded after entering the extraction facility.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are continuing to investigate the explosion and its precise cause.
Bassham’s charges are allegations, and he has not been convicted. Court records did not identify an attorney representing him as of Monday.
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