A Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department search warrant in a burglary investigation served at a home in Oakdale revealed not only stolen property, but a complex lab used to extract marijuana oil for hashish.

On Sunday, Aug. 30 at 7 a.m., deputies from the Tuolumne County SWAT team, with assistance from Oakdale Police Department, served a search warrant on the 200 block of Johnson Avenue. The search warrant was generated after an Oakdale Police officer located a stolen kayak at the Johnson Avenue residence last week and linked by Tuolumne County Sheriff’s detectives to several burglaries in the Tuolumne County area.

Oakdale Police Officer Aaron Beatty said that in the process of searching the residence and recovering stolen property, a marijuana (cannabis) extraction lab was located on the property.

Cannabis extraction is a complex and potentially dangerous process where the cannabis oil, or wax, of the cannabis plant is extracted with chemicals used to remove the cannabinoids. Generally, highly flammable substances such as butane, hexane, isopropyl alcohol and ethanol are all solvents that are commonly used in cannabis concentrate extraction.

According to the California Narcotic Officers Association, “extraction-lab explosions have become the new meth-lab explosions in the Golden State.”

Beatty said the Oakdale Police Department was assuming the narcotics violations portion of the investigation.

Neighbors in the area said investigators were on the scene processing and clearing chemicals for a few hours.

Tuolumne Sheriff’s detectives arrested Mark Todd Tomlinson, 34, and his brother, Joshua Tomlinson, 32, for felony possession of stolen property and illegally manufacturing drugs, narcotics or controlled substances.