Federal law-enforcement officials seeking to stem the growth of indoor marijuana cultivation in the Seattle area have filed charges on a pair of gardening supply stores and a mortgage broker thought to be facilitating the illicit grow operations, the Los Angeles Times reported April 27.

As part of a 13-month operation, investigators seized 15,000 marijuana plants and arrested a dozen people, including handing down indictments against the owners of Greenhouse & Garden Supply of Tuwkila and Scitek Garden Supply in Auburn. The garden-supply firm owners were charged with conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

"It is important for us to focus on the people who allow marijuana grows to exist," said Mark Bartlett, an assistant U.S.  attorney. "We had not focused on that in the past." Bartlett said the company owners "were providing start-to-finish services, advice and materials," and investigators allege that the owners knew that the equipment they were selling was being used in an illegal operation.

In addition, investigators from the IRS searched the records of Jet City Mortgage in Kent, looking for evidence of possible mortgage fraud on homes -- many in upscale neighborhoods -- being used to grow marijuana.