Professional Snowboarder Arrested After Marijuana Crop Seized

HUNTINGTON BEACH — A professional snowboarder known as Smoking Jay was arrested after police found 54 marijuana plants inside his Huntington Beach apartment, investigators said.

Jay Joseph Quintin had transformed one room into a marijuana cultivation center with rows of “healthy, real thick stalks,” said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. J.B. Hume.

Police estimated the crop had a street value of $50,000.

“These weren’t just potted plants,” Hume said. “He had a very sophisticated system that involved lighting, irrigation and ventilation.”

In an interview Wednesday, Quintin said he had been growing marijuana for his own use to avoid high-priced dealers.

“I definitely think marijuana should be legal,” Quintin said several hours after he posted $1,000 bail and was released from City Jail. “It’s so expensive to buy pot these days.”

Quintin was arrested Tuesday, the day after his 22nd birthday, at his home in the 9600 block of Hamilton Avenue. Hume said police had received a tip about drug activity at the two-bedroom apartment.

When investigators arrived with an arrest warrant, the sergeant said, Quintin identified himself as Smoking Jay, the moniker he goes by in the snowboarding industry.

During the search, officers found a table with a 3-foot by 7-foot tray lined with foot-high marijuana plants and a hydroponic system to cultivate them, Hume said.

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“The table was like a miniature farm,” he said. “There were rows and rows of pot plants on it.”

Rigged with a hosing system and overhead lighting, the bedroom was dotted with books on marijuana cultivation and reeked of marijuana, police said. A bedroom window that did not face other units helped ventilate the apartment without allowing the smell to spread to the neighbors, Hume said.

“It’s as though he found an apartment that was suited for this,” he said.

Quintin said he promotes the use and legalization of marijuana through his snowboarding advertisements.

Originally from Vermont and part of a family of avid skiers, Quintin began his career as a professional snowboarder seven years ago, said Jonathan Paskowitz, vice president of Black Flys, a Costa Mesa-based manufacturer of sunglasses that features Quintin in its ads.

“He’s a hell of a snowboarder,” Paskowitz said. “He’s been involved in snow sports for years. He’s very well known.”

Paskowitz, whose company has been sponsoring Quintin for the past three years, said Wednesday that he will continue to support Smoking Jay.

“He’s a fine snowboarder and that’s all that matters to us,” Paskowitz said.

Quintin said Smoking Jay is a play on several words, including “jay” as a synonym for “joint,” a slang term for a marijuana cigarette. Quintin recently moved to Orange County from San Diego and has started his own business of snowboards and clothing label called Smoking Snowboards.

“I’m pushing hemp smoking in my ads,” he said. “But I’m definitely not telling little kids to smoke pot. I’m telling people to do their own thing.”

Quintin was booked at the Huntington Beach City Jail on Tuesday on suspicion of marijuana cultivation. He faces a felony charge, police said.