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Police have chopped down another multimillion-dollar crop of marijuana plants in Grant County.
The illegal plot, which a deputy from the Grant County Sheriff's Office found during an airplane flight Thursday, consisted of 3,302 mature plants worth an estimated $9 million to $12 million, according to a press release from Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer.
The marijuana crop, which was growing along China Creek near Kimberly, is the second that police have found in the northwestern section of Grant County in the past month.
The area is about 80 air miles west of Baker City.
In July, police found a separate marijuana crop about five miles from China Creek. Police harvested 6,767 marijuana plants there in mid August.Many of those plants were comparatively small, though, and police put the value of that crop at $5 million to $8 million.
Both marijuana crops were growing on steep, remote terrain, Palmer said.
The Grant County operations are reminiscent of a pair of marijuana patches that police eradicated in Baker County in the fall of 2004 and in Malheur County in the fall of 2005 2005.
Officials estimated the value of the Baker County crops at $17 million. The plants grew in the hills above Brownlee Reservoir between Huntington and Richland.
Palmer said investigators believe the two Grant County marijuana grows are related. Through the investigation, deputies gained information that led them on Thursday to a rental home on the Tom Campbell Ranch along Rudio Creek Road, near China Creek. No one was at the single-wide mobile home when deputies first arrived at the residence, Palmer said.
A Grant County Sheriff's deputy then flew over the area Thursday and discovered the marijuana garden.
Investigators returned to the mobile home later that day where Palmer said the renter declined to allow police to search the home. Police lacked probable cause to arrest the man and woman who were living there. Both people, who he declined to name, have left the area, he said.
The man was working part-time at the Campbell Ranch. The property owner is not a suspect in the investigation, Palmer said.
Palmer said a Grant County grand jury will consider evidence against the renters later this week.
Palmer secured a search warrant for the home and on Thursday night authorities found drugs, a firearm reportedly stolen from Umatilla County and fertilizer and plastic pipe used to bring water to the marijuana crop.
Palmer also obtained a search warrant for the property where the marijuana was growing, and on Friday and Saturday officers from the sheriff's office, the Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon State Police cut the plants.
Crews used four-wheelers to haul most of the marijuana, but some plants were growing on slopes so steep that officers called in a helicopter from the BLM office in Prineville to carry the plants.
A Grant County Sheriff's deputy discovered the first marijuana crop in July.
Police watched the site for several weeks and then, on Aug. 19, two sheriff's deputies and a BLM law enforcement ranger arrested three men, all of whom had handguns, at the site.
The suspects — Jesus Carrasco, 38, J. Santos Torres Valencia, 60, and Francisco Calixtro Garcia, 23, are all Mexican citizens who were in the United States illegally, Palmer said. The male suspect in the second investigation is believed to be related to Valencia, Palmer said.
The three arrested in the first investigation were taken to the Grant County Jail and then driven to Eugene, where they were arraigned on federal drug charges.
NewsHawk: _qWERTY - 420 Magazine
Source: BakerCityHerald.com
Pubdate: August 28, 2006
Copyright: 2001-2006 Western Communications, Inc.
Contact: jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Website: Bakercityherald.com
The illegal plot, which a deputy from the Grant County Sheriff's Office found during an airplane flight Thursday, consisted of 3,302 mature plants worth an estimated $9 million to $12 million, according to a press release from Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer.
The marijuana crop, which was growing along China Creek near Kimberly, is the second that police have found in the northwestern section of Grant County in the past month.
The area is about 80 air miles west of Baker City.
In July, police found a separate marijuana crop about five miles from China Creek. Police harvested 6,767 marijuana plants there in mid August.Many of those plants were comparatively small, though, and police put the value of that crop at $5 million to $8 million.
Both marijuana crops were growing on steep, remote terrain, Palmer said.
The Grant County operations are reminiscent of a pair of marijuana patches that police eradicated in Baker County in the fall of 2004 and in Malheur County in the fall of 2005 2005.
Officials estimated the value of the Baker County crops at $17 million. The plants grew in the hills above Brownlee Reservoir between Huntington and Richland.
Palmer said investigators believe the two Grant County marijuana grows are related. Through the investigation, deputies gained information that led them on Thursday to a rental home on the Tom Campbell Ranch along Rudio Creek Road, near China Creek. No one was at the single-wide mobile home when deputies first arrived at the residence, Palmer said.
A Grant County Sheriff's deputy then flew over the area Thursday and discovered the marijuana garden.
Investigators returned to the mobile home later that day where Palmer said the renter declined to allow police to search the home. Police lacked probable cause to arrest the man and woman who were living there. Both people, who he declined to name, have left the area, he said.
The man was working part-time at the Campbell Ranch. The property owner is not a suspect in the investigation, Palmer said.
Palmer said a Grant County grand jury will consider evidence against the renters later this week.
Palmer secured a search warrant for the home and on Thursday night authorities found drugs, a firearm reportedly stolen from Umatilla County and fertilizer and plastic pipe used to bring water to the marijuana crop.
Palmer also obtained a search warrant for the property where the marijuana was growing, and on Friday and Saturday officers from the sheriff's office, the Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon State Police cut the plants.
Crews used four-wheelers to haul most of the marijuana, but some plants were growing on slopes so steep that officers called in a helicopter from the BLM office in Prineville to carry the plants.
A Grant County Sheriff's deputy discovered the first marijuana crop in July.
Police watched the site for several weeks and then, on Aug. 19, two sheriff's deputies and a BLM law enforcement ranger arrested three men, all of whom had handguns, at the site.
The suspects — Jesus Carrasco, 38, J. Santos Torres Valencia, 60, and Francisco Calixtro Garcia, 23, are all Mexican citizens who were in the United States illegally, Palmer said. The male suspect in the second investigation is believed to be related to Valencia, Palmer said.
The three arrested in the first investigation were taken to the Grant County Jail and then driven to Eugene, where they were arraigned on federal drug charges.
NewsHawk: _qWERTY - 420 Magazine
Source: BakerCityHerald.com
Pubdate: August 28, 2006
Copyright: 2001-2006 Western Communications, Inc.
Contact: jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Website: Bakercityherald.com
