‘Most Bud I’ve Ever Seen in One Place,’ Says Lt. Fridley of HCSO

Marijuana bud mounded over a trench which was created by law enforcement to bury and destroy the seized product

Marijuana bud mounded over a trench which was created by law enforcement to bury and destroy the seized product. [Photo from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office]

Yesterday, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) in conjunction with multiple agencies served warrants on four properties they believe to be related in the 4100 block of Wilder Ridge is southwestern Humboldt County.

Lt. Mike Fridley of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office wrote, “[This is the] Most bud I have ever seen in one place.” He told us there was over 16,000 pounds of mostly processed bud. While some wasn’t in final manicure form, it had been mainly broken down into palm-sized flowers as seen in the photo above.

The team dug a trench three feet deep to bury the marijuana in the mud in order to destroy it but, there was so much, it mounded over the top and additional work had to be done, he explained.

Fridley described a high level of sophistication. There were about 30 workers on site, he said. Most of them, he explained, used passports from Eastern European nations to identify themselves. “There was a 30 person manicuring room,” he said. “And a commercial kitchen.” He added that they had the biggest generator he’d ever seen.

No arrests were made as that “speeds up the clock” on having to file charges and get the case to trial, Fridley said.

“I didn’t think anyone was blowing it up like this anymore,” Fridley said. He promised additional information in a press release later.

He also said that the DEU would be continuing busts throughout the year. “People aren’t even trying to hide their greenhouses,” he said. “As we left, we saw a bunch of lit up greenhouses…The place was like daylight [and] you can see them from the road.”

UPDATE: Over $40,000 Seized, More Than 30 Detained: Sheriff’s Department Releases More Information on Large Cannabis Bust on Wilder Ridge Road

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Pharmstheproblem
Guest
Pharmstheproblem
5 years ago

Wouldn’t that central west humboldt…

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago

16,000 is a whole friggin lot, even if it’s not trimmed. I think I just heard the price of a pound go up!

ernestine
Guest
ernestine
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

i think you mean price going down. a flooded market rarely bring s the price up.

Simone Whipple
Guest
Simone Whipple
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Thanks for the maps, Kym.
Once again, real journalists interpret information, and questions, then provide researched facts.

Pharmstheproblem
Guest
Pharmstheproblem
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Thanks

Teresa
Guest
Teresa
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

It’s considered Honeydew only 10 minutes up the hill from Honeydew

Joe Mota
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

If you have Google Earth, search for 4100 Wilder Ridge Rd, then choose the one in Garberville, CA (I know it’s not in Garberville, but that’s what comes up). Click on it and will take you right there. Little Bulgaria right here in Humboldt.

Squeeler
Guest
Squeeler
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Mota

Doesn’t look like they grew 16,000 lbs on that property

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Mota

Tatyana Peycheva. Sounds like a local.

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Mota

Also listed as owner of two other properties on Wilder Ridge Rd.

Tré404
Guest
Tré404
5 years ago

People who aren’t from here call everything south of Orick “southern Humboldt.” Cracks me up. Plus, they mispronounce all the place names that aren’t right on “the” 101. (Our news broadcasters are bad about this.)

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
5 years ago

Another one bites the dust.

Joe Dirt
Guest
Joe Dirt
5 years ago

Well I smoke two joints in the morning and then I smoke two more and I smoke two joints and I smoke two joints and then I smoke two more

SD
Guest
SD
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Dirt

RIP Bradley

Jeeperscreepers
Guest
Jeeperscreepers
5 years ago

That’s it ? Better open their eyes and look around .. they haven’t even put a dent lol

Ma Dang
Guest
Ma Dang
5 years ago

give them time and funds and soon unlicensed grows will become the stuff of legends

Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
5 years ago

Not even a dent in this saturated market, kind of funny how things change , used to be I’d vacation out of state and people ask me where I was from ,then ask if I had any weed, now they still ask where I’m from but no mention of weed, Humboldt weed has lost its market

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago
Reply to  Lone ranger

Great research there in that post, but you sir would be wrong.

warrens buffet
Guest
warrens buffet
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

You can buy diy Vermont and Nevada medical weed in Columbus Ohio. Unheard of last year. The export game is way up, for a bunch of states besides Cali.

Two years ago that 16,000 pounds would have been long gone by November. The shit-ton of inventory speaks for itself. Market is not lost but it has been greatly reduced and the price has fallen through the floor.

Keep at it Emily but remember nobody is going to cry when the popo takes down your scene and steals all of your cash because you were warned. Go legal or get fucked.

read
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  warrens buffet

they were still trimming it. weed was never long gone by nov

Tré404
Guest
Tré404
5 years ago
Reply to  warrens buffet

Kym may benefit from that same advice.. lol

Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

States are promoting their own legal taxed weed , and bashing Humboldt as junk weed, welcome to big biz Emily ,cut throat is their game, and you are their competition, profit margins are huge to them right now, market ain’t even close to saturated, wait 2 years then it will be saturated

read
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Lone ranger

I travel the country constantly and no one is bashing humboldt.

Frank
Guest
Frank
5 years ago
Reply to  read

Me too. And Humboldt is high priority, even in Columbus.

Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
5 years ago
Reply to  read

Nope, just homeless people with 7lbs wheeling down the freeway in wyoming in winco shopping carts ,definitely high grade lol, trading it for higher valued cigarettes says it all

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  Lone ranger

Every year, more states and countries go legal, without the production to meet demand. You just need to up your export game.

Ma Dang
Guest
Ma Dang
5 years ago
Reply to  Lone ranger

the advantage of Humboldt was the location.
with legalization it is now about the climate and infrastructure.

Native Humboldt
Guest
Native Humboldt
5 years ago

Hopefully the SO had the proper permits to dig a three foot deep trench? I guess it’s do what I say not what I do mentenality!

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago

without characterizing the waste, the county may have violated State and Federal laws. did they test it for pesticides?

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago

Did they have a permit when they pushed that garden in Blocksburg off a cliff with a tractor?

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

That’s my favorite Public Theater of the year.

Ma Dang
Guest
Ma Dang
5 years ago

it was an emergency and a public safety concern, lol !

Legallettuce
Guest
Legallettuce
5 years ago

Wonder who I can get a hold of to buy them totes?

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  Legallettuce

Contact the Bulgarian consulate.

10 toes
Guest
10 toes
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Lmao 😂

Fortunian
Guest
Fortunian
5 years ago

I don’t understand why there were no arrest.

Things that make you go hmm
Guest
Things that make you go hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  Fortunian

It clearly states why…

Me
Guest
Me
5 years ago

Bulgarians taking over. Please arrest these gangsters

Ma’am
Guest
Ma’am
5 years ago

Finally checking on the Bulgarians.

RecallRexBohn
Guest
RecallRexBohn
5 years ago

Many of those “lit-up” greenhouses belong to “permitted” grows. The owners disregard the rules and give the finger to anyone who complains – I feel like a broken-record here, but There Is No Enforcement when it comes to permitted grows! If you want to drain the neighborhood creek, run fans and generators 24-hours a day, light up your greenhouses and sell on the black market, then get a permit! Just ask Rex – he’s helped out a lot of his friends this way!

Buster
Guest
Buster
5 years ago
Reply to  RecallRexBohn

Sounds to me like you just described the prop. 215 era that began all of these mega-grows and environmental destruction.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Buster

Yes, except now, instead of forming collectives and having members, you just pay the county cultivation tax and they give you protection. Quite the scam, but good one for both sides.

things you hear
Guest
things you hear
5 years ago
Reply to  Buster

and morons for neighbors.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
5 years ago
Reply to  Buster

You can thank Gallegos for that

Farce
Guest
Farce
5 years ago
Reply to  RecallRexBohn

Yes. It is important to note- although I am a broken record also- that these “legal” permitted grows have no Track and Trace and are selling their weed out-of-state in violation of federal and CA law. The state agencies and county officials are willfully turning a blind eye. It is a major case of federal racketeering and laundering and conspiracy to violate interstate transportation laws being committed by government officials. Why the media blackout and deception about all this?

read
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Apparently it is not important to note. No one is going to do anything about the lack of over site.

Scooter
Guest
Scooter
5 years ago
Reply to  RecallRexBohn

Currently there is a big scene top of the ridge south of Panther Gap running HPS lights at all hours. You can see it for miles. What beautifull scenery we enjoy here in the wilderness.

Casual Observer
Guest
Casual Observer
5 years ago

The wild wild west still continues but soon to be gone. Euro Mafia organizations are slowly consolidating their power in your back yard, reeking havok on the environment and driving the price of weed into the ground. Does anyone still believe growing weed is good for the Humboldt?

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago

1600 lbs X let’s say a reasonable 800 a lb is 1.2 million. Yep. The weed market is dead. Everybody go home, nothing to see here. Even funnier…. no arrest = these ass hats will be back at it early spring on another leased peice of property. My guess is this was just there full term haul and they have already pocketed 3 million!

Do people even read
Guest
Do people even read
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

No, 16,000 pounds! Even at 800 a pound, that’s 12.8 million. Read again.

Notbuyinit
Guest
Notbuyinit
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

16000×800=12.8 million. What were you saying about the market being dead?

Mike
Guest
Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

You forgot a zero in your calculations. 16,000 not 1,600

John
Guest
John
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

16,000 lbs not 1600

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago
Reply to  John

Dam my bad. Starting to lose it in my ol age

racer x
Guest
racer x
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

$800 a pound. Only if you sell singles to minors.

read
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  racer x

or you don’t know anybody

lauracooskey
Guest
lauracooskey
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

“Eight tons a-mari-juana,
I hear-a eight tons a-mari-juana…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j-vC2EiH0U

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago

Excellent. Did ICE come along for the show?

Mobius Dancer
Guest
Mobius Dancer
5 years ago
Reply to  Tailgate

Yes, I think ICE might be interested in this – or not.

These are folks with Euro extraction, not brown skinned. Currently, it seems ICE is more interested in Brown Skin more that illegal activities of Imported Mafia types.

Obliviously
Guest
Obliviously
5 years ago
Reply to  Mobius Dancer

This county and state forbids notifying ICE.

Kimp
Guest
Kimp
5 years ago
Reply to  Obliviously

Humboldt County’s sanctuary status will not protect people charged with crimes.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Kimp

“The County’s” sanctuary status -as bogus as it is, only applies in the unincorporated parts of Humboldt. Not that it matters for “Countywide” taxation.

~just sayin

Ma Dang
Guest
Ma Dang
5 years ago
Reply to  Mobius Dancer

maybe we should get Trump involved ? are any of them Mulsum ?

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  Tailgate

Our current federal government views eastern-European criminals very favorably.

Faro
Guest
Faro
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

The Bulgarians have federal protection because our military has multiple bases their country. I’m positive they’ve been bribing the planning department because there has been at least one instance where everybody in the neighborhood got an abatement letter except the Bulgarians.

Last week houses with one or two greenhouses in northern humboldt got letters but somehow these guys are just rolling along still? It reeks of corruption.

Commonsense
Guest
Commonsense
5 years ago
Reply to  Faro

Lol. Nope. They aren’t rolling anything at that grow anymore

beyourself
Guest
beyourself
5 years ago

With the ability to launder HUGE amounts of organized crime money without having to prove where it came from and the fact being busted here generally means a plane ticket home rather than prison, I see little to dissuade these people from this type of activity

yep
Guest
yep
5 years ago
Reply to  beyourself

Yeah, offshore money can buy property without proving or stating the origin. Unlike US citizens.

MikeyC
Guest
MikeyC
5 years ago

I am curious what their water source was?

And what prevents someone from just digging it up?

Buster
Guest
Buster
5 years ago
Reply to  MikeyC

It’s quite possible that they just buy their water by the truck load like a lot of other people.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
5 years ago
Reply to  MikeyC

Mattole river tributaries

Done it
Guest
Done it
5 years ago

You can run that muddy cannabis through the extraction tube and yield good product

weedageddon
Guest
weedageddon
5 years ago
Reply to  Done it

awesome. and you sell that garbage. be so glad when most of the production has quality standards.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  weedageddon

Like it had before gubbernut interference.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  weedageddon

Lowering the test standards, typical Amerika.

Buster
Guest
Buster
5 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

Ahh, I’m picturing a new govt. program titled “no joint left behind”.

Joe Mota
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Done it

I bet that’s right. Extraction will separate the cannabis oils and terpenes and leave all the water soluble stuff and solids in the dirt behind. Might taste a little funny.

Sheesh!!
Guest
5 years ago

Deport them all!!
Foreigners shouldn’t be tolerated exploiting our home!!
Never let them return!!
Eurotrash!!

tax payer
Guest
tax payer
5 years ago
Reply to  Sheesh!!

keep them locked up until you deport them. no bail no O.R. for illegal aliens or even immigrants until they have succeeded in obtaining citizenship. and some think they are easy on aliens from europe. this is wrong they only gave DACA to mexicans

Yep
Guest
Yep
5 years ago
Reply to  tax payer

Yep on the DACA at the least… DACA is just a way to keep people oppressed. It creates a temporal second class of citizen. They should have provided a reasonable and timely way for full citizenship if they were serious about helping people.

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
5 years ago

Kym Kemp: Queen of Maps! Thank you, again.

political moderate
Guest
political moderate
5 years ago

I miss the days when law enforcement used to call it contraband or drugs or marijuana. “Bud” is so unprofessional and accepting. Sigh.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago

With all due respect Guest – you don’t grow it, deal it, smoke it, ingest it, but yet you’re such an expert on it.

How can that be?

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

My misunderstanding -and i apologize.

tax payer
Guest
tax payer
5 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

and guns are boom sticks right? (depends on who is reporting) (think about it) i am insinuating they call it bud because…….

Buster
Guest
Buster
5 years ago

I heard the term the Devil’s dandruff the other day referring to a white powdery substance.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago

“Bud” is a technical term for cannabis in that stage of production. If a police report is inaccurate, if won’t stand up in court.

political moderate
Guest
political moderate
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

How about “marijuana buds” then? Buds sounds so slangy.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago

Marijuana is a a slang term. Cannabis is the proper word. Cannabis buds. Like rose buds, just a plant part.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

And the plant is hemp.

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Marijuana is a drug. Cannibis is a drug. Weed is a drug. Drugs = money. Money = greed. Greed = corruption. It’s simple math

dogglife
Guest
dogglife
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

So we eliminate money which will eliminate greed which will eliminate corruption?

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago
Reply to  dogglife

Guess which drug trade trumps them all,is legal , and has the biggest black market ring? Rx pills! Yep. If it alters your brain then it will demand money.

Big Bang
Guest
5 years ago

Just wondering if the producers of this mega shitshow will over produce themselves out of existence before destroying the planet in the process…

political moderate
Guest
political moderate
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

Hey, never asked this before, but do these mega grows contribute to global warming? Grows produce methane gas, nitrous oxide through soil cultivation and CFC’s too. It all helps to change the natural greenhouse. Drought, wildfires, all enhanced by marijuana grows.

Buster
Guest
Buster
5 years ago

Seems to me that you kinda asked and answered your own question…like any good politician.

Running diesel generators…adds to CO2 levels but so does driving to work in my truck. Produce methane gas…I don’t know, I produce methane (I call it ass gas). CFCs…probably not directly but I guess that you could extrapolate it into plastic products used on the farm. Speaking of which, what’s up with all of the red Solo cups in the trim room? It looks like the morning after a frat party!

Anyway, these mega-grows probably do contribute to the “Greenhouse” effect (wink, wink) as much, or less, than any other large scale agriculture.

Third generation
Guest
Third generation
5 years ago
Reply to  Buster

Scissor cups🤣

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

I noticed all the geni’s, most likely diesel storage, used oil, and no haz mat violations. it seems these eastern Europeans are doing their best when it comes to haz mat operations.

Disgusting supervisors
Guest
Disgusting supervisors
5 years ago

Its an plant from the earth thats been part of the planet longer than humans have!!!! It really has more rite to exsist here than we do !!!!!

MikeyC
Guest
MikeyC
5 years ago

🙄

Yellow
Guest
Yellow
5 years ago

This better be the last time anything like this ever happens again gosh darn it !

tax payer
Guest
tax payer
5 years ago

i am really interested in the fact that no one has mentioned money. was there none or are they still going to watch these guys to try to track the money? btw i say take all their belongings… trucks, dressers, tvs, anything… at all and leave them penniless

Yellow
Guest
Yellow
5 years ago

This is a picture of some of there workers seen walking down the road sometime during the time of the raid.

Fndrbndr
Guest
Fndrbndr
5 years ago
Reply to  Yellow

Good job. Young ones!

Seriously
Guest
Seriously
5 years ago

Are those generators for sale?

TQM
Guest
TQM
5 years ago

no wonder there were so many Bulgarians on the roads in that area this fall! You can spot one a mile away just based on how they dress.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  TQM
Fndrbndr
Guest
Fndrbndr
5 years ago

So, the sherrif buried all those napkins also? Illegal dumping?

ShadMaster
Guest
ShadMaster
5 years ago

The buried marijuana will be eaten by maggots, and then the hippies will turn them into chocolate covered…

Get some
Guest
Get some
5 years ago

Rays market must have a full parking lot again, and I’m not talking shoppers

Cole s
Guest
Cole s
5 years ago

So if they were the raw dog mafia status that everyone puts them at would they just hand over 8 to 12 mill without a fight … not a chance , or just now local and whatever authority is working here just stepped up their game no way all that shit was from one or two props . .02$

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Theres so many more. What a joke the HSCO said they didnt think stuff like this was happening. Thats pretty ignorant and disheartening. Thats ignorance parading around the room. So much smells fishy in this case.