Kern deputies serve warrants, seize cannabis plants

 Law Enforcement
Aug 142011
 

At least two people had been cited as of Friday afternoon in connection with Kern County’s new ordinance limiting the number of marijuana plants a person can have on their property for medicinal purposes. The offense is a misdemeanor with a sentence of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, Kern County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Francis Moore said. The emergency ordinance, passed by the Kern County Board of Supervisors Tuesday evening, allows a person to have no more than 12 marijuana plants. Sheriff Donny Youngblood has warned those with excess plants to [...]

8,600 plants seized at Nevada County grow site

 Law Enforcement
Jul 092011
 

Narcotics officers destroyed a large marijuana garden Friday in the first major outdoor operation of the year. A total of 13 officers from Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Forest Service found a large marijuana garden composed of three, terraced seed beds on Tahoe National Forest property between Graniteville and the Town of Washington in eastern Nevada County, said Sheriff Keith Royal. It wasn’t immediately clear exactly where the garden was, officials from both the Sheriff’s Office and National Forest said Friday, Kyle Magin reports in The Union. Officers pulled 8,625 plants, which were [...]

Humboldt man will face federal pot-growing charges

 Law Enforcement
Jun 292011
 

A Fieldbrook man was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana out of Harrisburg, Pa. James Edward Shelton, 37, was arrested by Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies at approximately 11 a.m. in the Humboldt County Courthouse on a no-bail federal arrest warrant. The charges brought against Shelton stem from an investigation that took place at his Fieldbrook home earlier this month, the Eureka Times-Standard reports. Officials from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service assisted the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration out of Santa Rosa in uncovering [...]

3 charged in connection with 2010 Butte County raids

 Law Enforcement
Jun 242011
 

The first charges have been filed against one of the Butte County medical marijuana dispensaries raided in June 2010. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced Wednesday that three Forest Ranch residents have been arrested on three felony counts of sales of marijuana and one count of possession for sale of marijuana, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports. Jason Allen Anderson, 35; Michael Franklin Anderson, 46; and Kaitlin Christine Sanchez, 23, operated the Mountainside Patient Collective at 3330 Highway 32 west of Chico. The Anderson brothers are also charged with cultivation and possession for sale of marijuana, [...]

Chico police chief outlines MMJ enforcement strategy

 Law Enforcement
Jun 172011
 

If approved by the Chico City Council in July, a medical marijuana ordinance will go into effect Aug. 5, allowing pot to be grown and processed in small quantities for personal medicinal use. At a community meeting in south Chico Wednesday night, Police Chief Mike Maloney outlined what the city’s response will be to handling medical marijuana issues, Greg Welter reports in the Chico Enterprise-Record. “First, the Police Department will attempt to assign the enforcement of most marijuana rules to other agencies,” Maloney said. He explained the proposed ordinance is more of a land-use issue [...]

S.F. police tardy in releasing cannabis crime stats

 Law Enforcement
Jun 122011
 

Running a city is not easy. We get it. It’d be foolish to expect a place as complex and sometimes-provincial as San Francisco to always-smoothly operate, yet occasionally there’s a municipal breakdown that defies easy explanation. And, it’s quite possible, city law. Take the Marijuana Offenses Oversight Committee, Chris Roberts writes in The Snitch blog for S.F. Weekly. A legitimate City Hall-sanctioned body, MOOC was formed by the Board of Supervisors and is under the jurisdiction of the General Services Agency (Mayor Ed Lee’s old stomping-grounds, if you’ll recall). It has a few key tasks, [...]

Fresno-area dispensaries raided by authorities

 Dispensaries, Law Enforcement
Jun 012011
 

Law-enforcement authorities served search warrants this morning at five medical marijuana dispensaries in Fresno County. Sheriff Margaret Mims said authorities believe the dispensaries are making a profit off marijuana sales, which is illegal under state law; the dispensaries are required to be non-profit operations. Local, state and federal agents seized seized bank records, phone records and information about deliveries, Mims told the Fresno Bee. Click here for updated Fresno Bee story The warrants were served at Buds 4 Life Collective, 3705 N. Clovis Ave.; Cafe 215 Collective, 3795 N. Clovis Ave.; Gardens Ablaze, 4135 N. [...]

Mendo collective drivers charged by Sonoma DA

 Law Enforcement
May 232011
 

Northstone Organics, a medical marijuana cooperative based in Mendocino County, appears to be about as legitimate as such an organization can be. It has a Mendocino County sheriff’s permit to grow medical marijuana as a cooperative and undergoes county inspections, Glenda Anderson reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Its plants are tagged with Sheriff’s Office zip ties, a measure aimed at protecting them from being seized by law enforcement. “If what Northstone Organics is doing isn’t legal, no collective or cooperative is legal,” said Mendocino County Supervisor John McCowen, who spearheaded the county’s medical [...]

Mendo growers pay $50/plant fees for plea deals

 Law Enforcement
May 072011
 

Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster has been busy since taking office in January, dealing with campaign promises and implementing new practices that are raising funds and eyebrows. One of his most novel and controversial moves has been to allow people charged with felony marijuana cultivation to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession if they agree to pay a $50-per-plant eradication fee to law enforcement agencies. The defendants also are placed on probation for two years and sentenced to 100 to 200 hours of community service, depending on the number of plants they were growing. The [...]

Alligator found during Riverside County pot raid

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana News
Mar 092011
 
Alligator found during Riverside County pot raid

Department of Justice agents raided an East Hemet house Monday night and seized almost 2,300 marijuana plants valued at least $1.5 million — and a four-foot alligator being used to help guard the stash. Agents with Arcnet, the Allied Riverside Cities Narcotics Enforcement Team, raided the house and found what they described as a “watchgator” named Wally in a back room, where it was living in a black cement-mixing tub full of water. One man was arrested, John Asbury reports in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and the gator was taken to a sanctuary in San Bernardino [...]

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