JACKSON, MI -- A 48-year-old Leoni Township man was arraigned this week on two drug charges after police searched his property last week and found a marijuana grow operation, heroin and a large amount of items believed to be stolen.

Matthew Jon Lapham remained Tuesday in the Jackson County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

The county magistrate arraigned him Monday by video from the jail. He is charged with two felony counts of possessing with intent to deliver drugs.

More charges could come later.

Authorities suspect Lapham is involved in an extensive “fencing operation,” buying and selling stolen goods, Blackman-Leoni Township public safety Deputy Director Jon Johnston said last week.

Police on Thursday searched his property in the 300 block of Sutton Road off E. Michigan Avenue.

Johnston was not specific about what police found but said officers seized property worth thousands.

Among the items was some radio equipment investigators allege the man used to disrupt Jackson County emergency radio traffic.

The sheriff’s office had been narrowing in on him for more than a year.

Lapham started by transmitting dead or open air, Undersheriff Chris Kuhl said. Later, he would make statements that often were derogatory, Kuhl said.

It is a misdemeanor to intentionally interfere with police radio communications, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer said last week, but the prosecutor's office had not yet reviewed the case for any possible radio-related charges.

In a letter addressed in May 2010 to Matthew J. Lapham, the Federal Communications Commission warned Lapham not to operate radio transmitting equipment without valid FCC authorization.

The commission said information indicated he had periodically been operating under an amateur radio call sign licensed to Matthew A. Lapham of Louisiana, who was serving in the U.S. Air Force in Iraq, according to the letter, found on the FCC website.

In the past, Lapham has been convicted in Jackson County of misdemeanor larceny and assault charges, a felony breaking and entering offense and a firearm crime, according to online court records.