SirBlazinBowl
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Evidence seized during a major marijuana raid in northern Mendocino County has led to the arrest of a Santa Rosa man suspected of having ties to a Mexican drug cartel. Isaac Maldonado, 26, is in custody in Mendocino County Jail, facing charges of cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale. Maldonado was tracked down after local, state and federal agents last week raided a series of gardens in the remote Red Mountain Creek area near Piercy.
Sgt. Rusty Noe of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office marijuana team said about 7,700 maturing plants were found, along with $195,000 in cash at two different sites. "We have reason to believe he ( Maldonado ) was overseeing the operation on behalf of Mexican nationals," Noe said. He said more arrests are expected. Noe said several camps were found in the area, suggesting that as many as eight individuals were living on site. Two vehicles also were found. Noe's local pot squad, along with a team from the state Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, assisted in the raids, which were part of a federal Bureau of Land Management investigation into the large marijuana growing operation. Noe said the scale of the Mendocino marijuana operation underscores the change in North Coast dope growing from 'mom-and-pop' operations of two decades ago to large commercial ventures that increasingly are being linked to drug cartels south of the border. In July, authorities found two sophisticated drug operations in the Austin Creek State Recreation Area of Sonoma County. One garden yielded 23,650 plants. About 21,000 plants were found in a second garden nearby. Statewide, marijuana seizures this year are breaking records, with another month to go before harvest of the illicit weed winds down.
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Tuesday announced that state agents have yanked more than a million pot plants from growers' gardens, nearly 400,000 more than in 2004. Lockyer said the uprooted marijuana would have been worth $4 billion if it had been sold on the streets. Pot seizures in Sonoma and Mendocino already have surpassed 100,000 plants each. Nearly 90,000 plants have been found so far in Napa County. Together, the total in the three neighboring counties represents about 30 percent of the statewide production.
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - 420Times.com
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Website: https://www.pressdemo.com/
Author: Mike Geniella
Sgt. Rusty Noe of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office marijuana team said about 7,700 maturing plants were found, along with $195,000 in cash at two different sites. "We have reason to believe he ( Maldonado ) was overseeing the operation on behalf of Mexican nationals," Noe said. He said more arrests are expected. Noe said several camps were found in the area, suggesting that as many as eight individuals were living on site. Two vehicles also were found. Noe's local pot squad, along with a team from the state Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, assisted in the raids, which were part of a federal Bureau of Land Management investigation into the large marijuana growing operation. Noe said the scale of the Mendocino marijuana operation underscores the change in North Coast dope growing from 'mom-and-pop' operations of two decades ago to large commercial ventures that increasingly are being linked to drug cartels south of the border. In July, authorities found two sophisticated drug operations in the Austin Creek State Recreation Area of Sonoma County. One garden yielded 23,650 plants. About 21,000 plants were found in a second garden nearby. Statewide, marijuana seizures this year are breaking records, with another month to go before harvest of the illicit weed winds down.
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Tuesday announced that state agents have yanked more than a million pot plants from growers' gardens, nearly 400,000 more than in 2004. Lockyer said the uprooted marijuana would have been worth $4 billion if it had been sold on the streets. Pot seizures in Sonoma and Mendocino already have surpassed 100,000 plants each. Nearly 90,000 plants have been found so far in Napa County. Together, the total in the three neighboring counties represents about 30 percent of the statewide production.
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - 420Times.com
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Website: https://www.pressdemo.com/
Author: Mike Geniella
