The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission does not believe there is a “nexus” between Rogue Valley Cannabis and a black market grow found on property near Jacksonville belonging to the local dispensary’s former co-owner, James Gerald Martin III, who was murdered with another man in Houston, Texas, last month.

Three weeks after Martin’s bullet-riddled body was found Feb. 1 in the trunk of a car in Houston, local police found more than 500 marijuana plants, 275 pounds of processed illegal cannabis and two firearms on Martin’s property. But OLCC does not see a need to investigate Rogue Valley Cannabis, which has three locations in the Rogue Valley, said agency spokesperson Mark Pettinger.

“The activity that the Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team discovered took place on private property, which is outside of our jurisdiction,” Pettinger said, “and we did not find any anomaly or anything amiss with regard to Rogue Valley Cannabis when we looked in the cannabis tracking system.”

OLCC took a look at the cannabis tracking system last week to trace Rogue Valley Cannabis’ marijuana transactions, Pettinger said, after the raid on Martin’s property, in the 1400 block of Wagon Trail Drive in the Applegate.

The tracking system — used by all OLCC licensees and their employees — is used to track marijuana from seed to sale to make sure cannabis is grown and sold legally.

Baron Erik Munchausen, 36, who used to work at Rogue Valley Cannabis’ West Main Street location, was arrested during the Feb. 22 raid on charges of felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful manufacture of marijuana and two counts of unlawful possession of marijuana.

Police said Munchausen admitted to manufacturing marijuana and possessing firearms illegally. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 24 in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Aaron Lewis, public information officer for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, said an investigation into the black market grow is ongoing.

Pettinger said OLCC officials reached out to the Houston Police Department when the agency learned Martin and an associate, Dana Ryssdal, 35, had been murdered.

On Jan. 27, Houston police responded to a welfare check at Martin’s Houston residence and found Ryssdal dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

On Feb. 1, police returned to the property and found Martin dead in the trunk of a Toyota Prius in the garage. Houston police said they found 129 pounds of marijuana, 10 pounds of hash oil and $36,000, in the house.

Despite these developments, Houston police didn’t need OLCC’s assistance in the investigation, according to Pettinger.

“I don’t have any specifics. I think it was just, ‘Is there anything we can help with?’” he said. “Probably, that’s just going to be research, information and intelligence. Whatever important information they might need in their investigation.”

Pettinger said it’s hard to say at this point what impact the Jacksonville bust might have on Oregon’s cannabis market.

“If anything, it shows the pressure that illegal grow activity continues to have on the legalized and legitimate regulated market in Oregon,” Pettinger said.