Man receives 9-year sentence for Hampton Greens hash oil explosion

A man whose amateur hash oil operation caused a massive explosion and fire that tore through the Hampton Greens Apartments two years ago, leaving several injured – one later dying — was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday.

By Brandon Macz • June 8, 2015 3:03 pm
A man convicted of causing a hash oil explosion at the Hampton Greens Apartment complex on Nov. 5
A man convicted of causing a hash oil explosion at the Hampton Greens Apartment complex on Nov. 5

A man whose amateur hash oil operation caused a massive explosion and fire that tore through the Hampton Greens Apartments two years ago, leaving several injured – one later dying — was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday.

David R. Schultz, 33, and two accomplices were charged last July with endangering human life while manufacturing controlled substances, maintaining a drug involved premises and manufacturing hash oil and marijuana, part of the Seattle U.S. Attorney’s Office’s “Operation Shattered,” a prosecutorial crackdown on what had been a series of hash oil explosions over several months in the region. Daniel J. Strycharske and Jesse D. Kaplan pleaded guilty in federal court to endangering human life while manufacturing hash oil and marijuana in November 2014. They will be sentenced in July.

Schultz, a marijuana dispensary operator, was using butane to make hash oil inside the KK building of the Hampton Greens. Residents awoke to an explosion on Nov. 5, 2013, believed to have been caused by gas leaking into the apartment and igniting. Eight exploded cans of butane found in the parking lot and shrubs were recorded by investigators.

The 33-year-old was sentenced to nine years in prison by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart      on Monday.

Seven people were hospitalized that day, including Schultz, who sustained second-degree burns. Two residents jumped from their upper-level apartment to escape the blaze and suffered broken bones. Schult was arrested nine months after the explosion in a California motel, where prosecutors claim he had set up another hash oil operation.

Bellevue’s first female mayor, Nan Campbell, 87, tripped and fell while escaping the fire. She later died from complications following hospitalization. Two years later, the city council is now exploring possibly honoring Campbell by naming the Crossroads Community Center after her.

The explosion and fire caused $2 million in damage and the loss of $500,000 in belongings.

Bellevue Police reports state an officer responded to the apartment complex Schultz was using to produce hash oil on Oct. 17, 2013 — three weeks before the explosion.Documents state the officer went to the apartment and cautioned the occupants that making hash oil would be a violation of the lease, which was only held by one of the men there.