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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc: 
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 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] 
#8565972 - 06/26/08 08:33 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Seized pot worth $25M to $60M
June 26, 2008 - times-standard.com
Federal agents who served warrants on properties across Humboldt and into Northern Mendocino County have begun the process of sifting through the massive amount of evidence seized during Tuesday's marijuana raids, with the plants alone worth an estimated $25 million to $60 million.
And the evidence kept piling in Wednesday.
Estimates produced by the FBI indicate authorities seized more than 10,000 marijuana plants, one vehicle, computers, more than $160,000 in cash and 30 firearms, including shotguns, handguns and fully automatic weapons.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Schadler said no charges have yet been filed as investigators continue to scour suspect properties for evidence that will help build cases against the alleged for-profit marijuana growers, which were the target of “Operation Southern Sweep.”
However, Schadler said federal charges are likely to be brought as the investigation continues.
So far, none of the individuals targeted by the investigation were arrested, and only one man was taken into custody after he reportedly assaulted a federal officer during a warrant execution.
In total, 29 warrants were served across Humboldt County and the northern tip of Mendocino County.
Among the Humboldt towns with raided properties were Arcata, McKinleyville, Shelter Cove, Whitethorn, Redway, Ettersburg, Garberville, Miranda and Phillipsville.
An additional two properties were raided later Tuesday. According to FBI officials, investigators suspect those properties -- rural parcels that stretch across the Humboldt and Mendocino border -- were purchased by growers who pooled their money to buy property to cultivate a marijuana cash crop.
Tuesday's investigation began in 2006 when members of California's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement began looking into what the FBI called a “California-based organization” that purchased the roughly 2,000 acres on two tracts of mountainous land. Investigators suspected the organization had purchased the land for large-scale commercial marijuana production, and because of the large scope of the operation, enlisted the FBI's help.
Investigators looked into suspicious activities, like numerous buildings and greenhouses on the land, built without permits, the FBI reported. And aerial photos of the properties showed the land had undergone continual construction since it was purchased.
Schadler said by Wednesday, nearly the entire group of roughly 250 agents took up the investigation on those two properties. The pile of seized marijuana plants and other evidence is expected to keep growing, he said.
”They're collecting trace evidence, document evidence, starting the destruction operation. They're going to cut down the plants and destroy them,” Schadler said.
Personnel with numerous agencies -- including the IRS, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and California National Guard Counter Drug Task Force -- have taken up residence in Fortuna.
The River Lodge conference center is the active mission control center of the operation. But Schadler said he expects agents to vacate the River Lodge by Friday, and the investigation may even wrap up as early as this evening.
Officials stressed from the outset of the operation that 215 patients and medical marijuana dispensaries would not be targeted by the warrants.
In a prepared statement released Wednesday by the FBI, Special Agent in Charge Charlene Thornton, said, “This is not a medical marijuana operation or a group of people growing for personal use. The targets of our investigation are reaping huge profits while contributing to the crime and violence oppressing communities across the state.”
A Sunny Brea man, whose residence was the target of a warrant Tuesday, said agents raided his house by mistake, and confiscated about 35 marijuana plants he said he was growing under 215 regulations.
The man, who would not give his name, said about 10 agents knocked on his door in the morning and showed him the warrant.
”It was a warrant for someone who wasn't there, who I presume was connected to this (commercial growing) deal,” he said. “The FBI stressed that they weren't there for the small 215 garden. They found them, and they said they had to take them, and we didn't contest it.”
The man said agents did not mistreat him, and he was told that no charges would be filed.
”For the most part it was definitely not a cool experience, but it could have been worse,” he said.
Schadler denied the execution of that warrant was a mistake, and said the warrants were for properties, not individuals.
”215 doesn't apply to the feds,” Schadler said. “That grow is associated directly with this overall operation.”
Growing marijuana with a 215 card, Schadler said, is still illegal in federal eyes.
Sean Garmire can be reached at 441-0514 or sgarmire@times-standard.com.
At a glance: Operation Southern Sweep
Value of pot seized: $25 to $60 million
Number of plants: 10,000
Cash: $160,000
Weapons: 30 firearms, including fully automatic weapons
Federal Warrants served: Shelter Cove, 7; Whitethorn, 4; Redway, 4; Ettersburg, 1; Garberville, 1; Miranda, 2; Phillipsville, 1; Arcata, 1 and McKinleyville, 2; plus four served at two properties: one in Southern Humboldt, the other in Northern Mendocino County. Two state warrants.
Agents: 450
Investigation length: Two years
Charges filed: None to date
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Salmonged
Stranger
Registered: 04/08/08
Posts: 217
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: veggie]
#8565987 - 06/26/08 08:39 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Bwahahahahahaha
All of this seems a little bit unnecessary IMO.
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dumbfounded1600
Stranger
Registered: 07/29/07
Posts: 2,624
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: Salmonged]
#8566009 - 06/26/08 08:49 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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That's just stupid, why not hold a huge bill board that planes can see from above saying, "BUST ME."
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 itsthedank
The Dude
Registered: 01/20/08
Posts: 639
Loc: The Gray Tapes
Last seen: 1 day, 54 minutes
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: dumbfounded1600]
#8566042 - 06/26/08 09:06 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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"They're going to cut down the plants and destroy them."
This makes me sad.
more victims of the War on Drugs, but i do agree that, from the sound of it, they could've been a bit more secretive.
Hope things work out.
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Knewnews
Thinking XXX but only AA
Registered: 08/30/05
Posts: 1,605
Loc: desert floor
Last seen: 16 hours, 26 minutes
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: itsthedank]
#8566215 - 06/26/08 10:03 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Until this there was no reason to be secretive in the green triangle. These people grow pot for a living and have for a long time.
Props to the feds if they actually don't fuck over the small time 215 growers, not too sure about that considering they have not filed any charges yet.
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arpnuke
Always changing
Registered: 09/11/06
Posts: 230
Last seen: 10 months, 17 days
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: veggie]
#8566308 - 06/26/08 10:33 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Damn it, knowing Humbolt that was probably a load of great dope that they seized. Still just a drop in the ocean.
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kcobra15
Bodhisattva
Registered: 05/26/06
Posts: 310
Loc: Northern California
Last seen: 6 hours, 54 minutes
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: arpnuke]
#8566428 - 06/26/08 11:15 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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feds...get the fuck out of humboldt county. 10,000 plants is nothing here...I read that the county sheriff's office confiscated over 300,000 plants last year alone. Seems to me that somewhere around half of these busts have turned out to be small 215 operations. What is really going on?
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Om Gam Ganapataye Namah
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ShroomNinja
P. Shuriken -Ninjas Choice!!
Registered: 12/05/06
Posts: 247
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: kcobra15]
#8567436 - 06/26/08 03:00 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
... with the plants alone worth an estimated $25 million to $60 million.
Thats a bit of a wide window dont you think. surely they could hit a closer estimate than that.
Quote:
Agents: 450
Investigation length: Two years
Charges filed: None to date
So 450 officers wasted tax payers oney for 2 years for nothing. If they weren't going to arrest anyone then why did they bother raiding. Nothing has come of this except a lot on needy people wont get their medicine.
Woo... lets keep the sick sick and the rich richer! buy our drugs!
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Welcome To The Realm of The Unknown!!
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Cyanic
not that guy
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 47
Loc: buckeye
Last seen: 2 years, 8 months
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: ShroomNinja]
#8568016 - 06/26/08 05:02 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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so this is alot of speculation. If 450 officers spent two years on this, think about the cost related like shroom ninja said. I'm sure they didn't all spend all of the two years working on this, but say you pay a low level agent about $30,000 a year (I hear they get paid crap and this is conservative). So 450 agents over two years works out to be $27 million in payroll. This doesn't even include benefits, or other costs of the operation. Just thinking of the money they probably spent on something like this makes me sick. They could have almost bought all the bud street value and it would have the same effect with probably more arrests. Or god forbid, tax it and make money off it! The new symbol for the "Drug War" should be a snake eating its own tail.
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"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today"-JD
I know that I'm not perfect
And I don't claim to be.
But before you point your fingers,
Make sure your hands are clean.
-bob marley
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MrMaddHatter
Dementia praecox
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 1,418
Loc: Nowhere
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Re: 10,000 marijuana plants seized [CA] [Re: ShroomNinja]
#8572858 - 06/27/08 09:59 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Agents: 450
Investigation length: Two years
Charges filed: None to date
So 450 officers wasted tax payers oney for 2 years for nothing. If they weren't going to arrest anyone then why did they bother raiding. Nothing has come of this except a lot on needy people wont get their medicine.
Woo... lets keep the sick sick and the rich richer! buy our drugs!
Damn you beat me to it.
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