Full Notification

On October 15, 2018, Sheriff’s detectives assigned to the Special Investigations Bureau served a search warrant on a suspected illegal marijuana cultivation site in the 3100 block of Avena Rd. in the Cebada Canyon area. The cultivation site did not possess the necessary license from the State of California to cultivate legally.

The property included numerous “hoop houses” that were built to cultivate several thousand marijuana plants. When detectives served the search warrant and secured the property, they discovered that the operators of the cultivation site had just recently harvested the plants in the last week and had transported the product from the plants off the property. During the search, detectives did find 1,423 younger plants that were not ready for harvest at this time. These plants were destroyed. The value of these plants if allowed to mature was estimated at $711,000.

While eradicating the plants, detectives interviewed the owner of the cultivation operation and will be conducting further investigation and forwarding the information to the District Attorney’s office for consideration of a criminal complaint.

The Sheriff’s Cannabis Compliance Team will continue to identify and investigate illegal marijuana cultivation sites within the county. The goal of the team is to stop the illegal cultivation of marijuana and prevent the environmental crimes associated with these illegal grows.

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