Three plead not guilty in home invasion of medical marijuana grower

Three Bellevue men charged in connection with a home invasion robbery attempt of a Kirkland medical marijuana grower earlier this month pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday.

Tyson Corcoran, 19, Andrew Carrigan, 19, and Dakota Laughren, 17, pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree burglary and first degree attempted robbery during an arraignment hearing in Kent. All three will return to court for a case setting hearing at 1 p.m. April 13 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Two other suspects in the case also from Bellevue are also scheduled for arraignment. Jonathan Buell, 18, is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. April 1 in Kent. Hristo Tzenkov, 19 and in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound sustained during the home invasion, will be arraigned on April 6.

Both men are charged with first degree burglary and attempted robbery.

The break-in occurred March 15 at Steve Sarich’s home in the Finn Hill neighborhood. A prominent medical marijuana activist, Sarich and his girlfriend were asleep when their dogs started barking. Sarich went to check on the dogs and ended up exchanging gunfire with Tzenkov, who was hit more than once and critically wounded.

A police raid later found 385 marijuana plants in Sarich’s home, along with food laced with the drug.

Sarich, 59, plans to sue the King County Sheriff’s Office for what he calls vaguely worded laws that led to the crime scene turning into a “marijuana raid.”

Sarich is executive director of an advocacy group for medical marijuana patients called CannaCare, who uses medical marijuana he grows in his home to treat his degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis.