Hoboken Police: Marijuana Wax Processing May Have Caused Apartment Fire

Hoboken, NJ – A New York man arrested at a Park Avenue apartment complex in Hoboken with more than 25 pounds of marijuana may have been trying to process wax or hash oil, a concentrated form of cannabis, police said.

Hoboken firefighters responded to an apartment building at 512 Park Avenue on the afternoon of Jan. 21 on a report of an active fire, police stated.

While helping to clear the building, Hoboken police encountered Jose Piedrahita, 22, of Ossining, NY, on the 3rd floor landing area. Officers noted that Piedrahita had “blisters on his forehead and soot on his face and body” along with first and second degree burns, police stated.

When officers looked in the apartment Piedrahita was staying in, they reportedly saw mesh screens and pipes “in plain view.”

After a later search of the apartment, officers found more than 25 pounds of marijuana, in addition to “numerous paraphernalia items used to make and package the CDS” and $40,000 of suspected proceeds from the alleged sale of CDS.

While not specific on the type of “paraphernalia items” found in the apartment, police said that the NJ State Police were on scene to “help dismantle the operation due to volatile substances.”

Emergency responders transported Piedrahita to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.

Authorities later charged Piedrahita with maintaining/operating a CDS production facility, possession with intent to distribute marijuana (five pounds or more, less than 25 pounds), possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, and possession with intent to distribute within 500 feet of a park.

Police also issued a warrant complaint for the owner of the apartment, Daniel Altomare, who subsequently turned himself in to police custody.

CANNABIS WAX AND OIL

Concentrated cannabis products – known as shatter, wax, honeycomb, oil or crumble – can be made via a variety of extraction processes and solvents, the most common being butane, according to Leafly.com.

“Cannabis wax is usually made by pumping butane fuel into a tube that is jam-packed with marijuana,” MedicalMarijuanaBlog.com states. “Naturally, if you do this in a closed environment, the fumes will fill up your room and if something goes wrong, that can lead to a major explosion.”

Reported as sources of home fires for years in states such as California, the butane extraction process has also been suspected of causing blazes in the New York and New Jersey area, including a 2013 conflagration in Brooklyn.

When asked if the fire may have been caused by an attempt to process cannabis wax or oil, a Hoboken police spokesman said that “it looks like the fire may have started that way,” but referred Patch to the Hoboken Fire Department for further comment.

“As for the type of drug, it looks to be that kind,” the spokesman told Patch.

Send Hoboken area news tips and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

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