Multiple Environmental Violations Found on Multiple Properities in Three Days of Marijuana Related Raids, Says Sheriff’s Office
This is a press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. The information has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) conducted a three day operation and served six search warrants in the areas of Burr Valley and Larabee Valley this week to investigate allegations of illegal cultivation of marijuana. The private parcels in question had no applications on file with Humboldt County Building and Planning and no permits issued for the cultivation of commercial marijuana. The following agencies assisted DEU with this investigation: Wardens from California Fish and Wildlife, Environmental Scientists from California Fish and Wildlife, CAL Fire Law Enforcement Officers, specialist from the Humboldt County Environmental Health and HAZMAT Unit, Humboldt County Code Enforcement officers, and personnel from the California Army National Guard Counter Drug Unit.
Search warrants were served on six different private parcels. A total of 11,412 marijuana plants were eradicated. Processed marijuana in the amount of 1,153 pounds was seized and destroyed. Three arrests were made and one fire arm was seized. The following subjects were arrested and charged with felony marijuana cultivation (HS 11358 (d) (3)D), Conspiracy (PC 182(a)), and Stream Alterations (FG 1602):
William Woods, age 32
Brian Woods, age 29
Stephen Passio, age 31
William Woods was also taken in to custody for outstanding felony warrants. The property owners associated with these private parcels are still under investigation. California Fish and Wildlife, Cal Fire Law Enforcement, County Code Enforcement, and the Environmental Health HAZAMAT Unit all located violations during the three day operation.
California Fish and Wildlife conducted a parallel investigation on these parcels and discovered violations for Fish & Game Code Sections:
1602 (Streambed alteration and water diversion) Violations: 9
5650 (pollution) Violations: 8
5652 (trash) Violations: 1
CAL Fire officers conducted a parallel investigation and discovered timber conversion violations. Persons responsible for the violations were issued citations.
Humboldt County Code Enforcement officers conducted a parallel investigations and discovered violations for: Unapproved Sewage disposal, Construction without a permit, Grading without a permit, Junk vehicles, using property as a junk yard, and Commercial cannabis permit violations.
County HAZMAT Unit discovered the following violations: Failure to submit a hazardous materials plan for a 125 gallon propane tank, Unauthorized hazardous waste storage, and Discharge of waste oil to soil.
All criminal violations stemming from the marijuana cultivation investigation will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s office for review. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office maintains a cooperative relationship with all agencies that participated in this investigation. All future investigations into non-compliant marijuana operations will continue to be investigated in this manner.
Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
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Wish they would show more pictures of the violations, I’m sure they are worse than the ones shown. Btw that’s a real nice pond!
I would wager it was the big pile of fir logs out in the open that attracted LE’s attention.
nope, crew member had outstanding felony warrants which guarantees go ahead from higher ups, they watched and waited for the score to be big.
One more example of dumbass throwback felons growing garbage weed as quick as they can.
Here is where pot is going: intelligent businessmen tooling up to grow near the markets in CA and NV…
http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-cannabis-company-plans-to-turn-desert-town-into-pot-paradise-2017-8-2
http://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-pepsi-factory-turned-marijuana-farm-2017-7?r=UK&IR=T
You [edit] don’t have to grow in pristine areas any more!
If you have ANY brains, you will stop smoking that shit and evolve…
Cool hair passio
Interesting those were the only guys arrested. Did they own the other parcels as well? Poor fuckers just bought that place.
Hired help.
A girl with the name Woods owns one of the parcels. The one with the dry pond.
“No applications on file” like that matters lol most the other busts had them on file but were not completed yet, why even say that. But Atleast they are doing their job, if they would have done there damn jobs the whole time we wouldn’t be in this shit show situation.
conspiracy charge is no Bueno!
Most of that shit gets bargained away. Chances are these guys are just workers, not owners. Except for the guy who had warrants, most of this will fall on property owners.
Be careful diving off that dock.
What is it about marijuana that causes the addicts to slash down trees, pump ponds dry, pour oil into the soil, and throw garbage everywhere?
Is this some type of satanic ritual they partake in?
Every single dope grower seems to do nothing except wage a nonstop war against nature, refusing to take prisoners.
Many, many concientious growers out here whose farms look like gardens and are clean & beautiful. Let’s not tar everyone with the same brush.
Sorry, not buying it…
Me neither
Sure there are. And Trump is the best President.
I agree, vets friend. The readers here only see the ugly gardens that get busted. Trust me, there are lots of good players out there that respect the land and have very tidy gardens, take the time to mulch and use water intelligently. It’s the new guys that have huge overhead from overpriced property, dropping prices for their product etc.. that are likely to skip the details and run a messy scene. For example, skimping on proper roadwork, not rocking new roads. That is what I’m seeing.
Come on, you keep bumping your head! All the trees cut, stream beds ruined still don’t compare to the logging industries damage. If you wanna focus on pollution maybe look into the valley where the real damage is being done to grow your food.. please educate yourself and quit this obsessive behavior for cannabis.
Wouldnt it be nice if people got HALF as pissed about the poisons and destruction wrought by
that industry? Keyboard cowboys I guess.
For every greedy green-rusher there are 100s of acres poisoned, clear cut, animals killed.
Many companies are being more responsible since MAXXAM, but the greedies are creeping back.
Totally wrong. The timber industry is regulated and is not allowed to pollute. If you leave the propaganda out of it. Its what resourse land is meant for. Not re-located greenrushes to counter culture our rural way of life
The biggest diversion of water from our watersheds is the Trinity river being diverted to the central valley farmers. It’s completely taken out of our watersheds, not just diverted within the watershed. But we don’t want to talk about that, right fish and wildlife?
Once they take that first puff their lives are ruined. I think AA accepts marijuana addicts.
I hope that every marijuana addict will seek help and overcome their disease.
If each day one marijuana addict can be reached, teaching them about the dangers of this despicable plant and stopping the marijuana users war on nature, it could bring change to the world.
The world needs love and less marijuana users attacking nature with a sap thirsty vengeance.
I have heard that there is such a thing as a cannabis addict. It is similar to being adicted to gambling or poronograpy or food. Of course the vast majority of cannabis user are eco-friendly, at least more so than the average person.
yet they showed none of that in the pic’s-
mr.kaufman
http://hightimes.com/news/ann-coulter-claims-pot-makes-people-retarded/
You’ll love this. It fits in with your wharped kinda “thinking” although it comes out your posterior.
Poe’s Law at work again.
Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won’t mistake for the genuine article.
Only the ones end up in the news with negative attention are the ones you know about! If they are clean and conscientious, they do not end up here
Like the first bust they did in burr? That place was clean as a whistle. Living in a trailer and illegal grading (could be a road) was only violations. Wonder what attracted them.
This cant possible be a mystery to you. Same thing that cause people do act immorally in any business venture, profit. Nothing inherent to cannabis.
Nice seeing a deck of good logs ready to be milled. Looks like 3rd or 4th gen fir. That parcel is most likely cleaner now then before they started
Very true at what point is the current owners fault verses that of the people that sold the land just a couple months ago ? Lets not forget all the logging roads and landings that private people now own since the great sell off, none of those culverts had permits etc. At what point does they current property owner get a break from the faults that were already done before they bought that property
Maybe it is just me , but, I have been trying to have an old car & truck towed away for years ! I will even pay any wrecking yard to take them ! They are all full & no one will take them ! SOO — how is it a crime to have them on your property ??? HUMTRUMP COUNTY !
What general area of humboldt? I could help you out.
Brian, they responded:
https://kymkemp.com/2017/08/04/violations/#comment-462784
Steve is a good guy and was just a worker bee, honestly I feel bad for him, the guy has busted his butt since April trying to make something out of nothing, and basically all his hard work was for nothing. He’s been out here for years trying to make it, like a lot of people who came to Humboldt, he loves ganja and has never really fit in too great with mainstream society. He’s worked hard trying to make it in the “cannabis industry”, but unfortunately the guy’s always had bad luck and hasn’t always been the best judge of character.
Perhaps he should overcome his addiction, clean up and get a job changing tires at Costco. No busts there and he gets a paycheck each and every week.
What’s scary is this essentially looks like every rural property in Humboldt. Weed or no weed. Guns are being drawn on the homesteading lifestyle.
What are you, Daniel Boone? Grow up, not pot…
I tend to agree,so if blue star plops a 150 gallon tank down at your house does it need to be permitted,those trays and wheelbarrow and a little soil scattered around,is this somehow supposed to look like a big trash pile,like wow said i have seen rural properties like this a lot,the tree thing is a no, no though without a permit though.
From a web search: The Hazmat Plan is only for businesses. If they used the propane for a trailer they lived in, they are exempt up to 250 gallons, but if they used it for their drying shed and the tank is over 200 cubic feet, that is, 26 gallons, they supposedly have to file. As if.
Brian + 20 years = Rasputin
Better luck next time guys. Welcome to the Wild West
You people better not dump your dirt on the dirt!!! That’s illegal!
You’re not entirely wrong.
What bothers me is that the press release conflates 6 parcels in 2 valleys so we can’t really get an idea of what they found anywhere. Did those three guys grow on all 6 parcels? Did they all grow on 1 parcel? How come these zillions of agencies doing these incredibly expensive raids only busted 3 people. And what’s the point of listing everyone who came by their agency name. Do you have to work for F&G to see a spring box in a creek is a violation? Hazmat teams? What did they do, find violations of Humboldt’s ban on nuclear weapons? The reason they can’t bust up the black market is that they are overloaded with agencies. How many people were in the raid teams, and how many vehicles did they come in? And when they got done what did they have to show for it? 11,ooo plants on 6 parcels. That’s not even 2000 plants per parcel. Hardly the legendary mountain top busting Bulgarians here. Three days, 8 agencies, a “scientist”, “parallel investigations,” and they come up with chicken feed. I give this effort 2 stars at the best.
Boom
Yes they are really trying hard. The last few write ups on busts have included travesties like, living in a mobile home, propane tank installed without a hazardous materials plan (what the hell is that? ) the always included streamway alteration (which could be anything including using your riparian water right) . So they are losing credibility with me. I’m no fan of ugly grow scenes but come on, just be cops and do your job, we don’t need the drama story!
ED, heard about Calaveras and similar activities?
http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_cf7d4f5e-77d1-11e7-ad39-27f358217c1d.html
Same m.o.
“Tuesday’s eradication was part of a four-day marijuana clearing plan in Calaveras County. The plan took three months to put together and involved six different government and public agencies. The effort included up to 130 personnel across three different teams spread out across the county. The goal – to hit as many unregistered grow sites as possible. The operation began on Aug. 1.”
‘Calaveras sheriff to illegal growers: stay out of our county’
Aug. 3, 2017
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/localnews/5494328-151/calaveras-sheriff-to-illegal-growers-stay-out-of
“Captain Jim Macedo of the Sheriff’s Office began the presentation by reading from a press release and said, “we are working in partnership with allied agencies to work toward ending the
line of a large group of marijuana growers who have come into Calaveras County from
across the United States and other parts of California committing crimes and causing
significant environmental damage,” he said.
The investigation began six months ago, Macedo said, and involved
1) the California Department of Fish & Wildlife,
2) the California National Guard Counterdrug Task Force,
3) California State Water Board,
4) Central Valley Regional Water Board,
5) Calaveras County District Attorney’s Office,
6) California Highway Patrol and
7) Cal Fire. ”
and
8) Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office
Many similarities between Calaveras and Humboldt regarding cannabis currently;
social/community relationships, political, environmental, registration, taxation, code enforcement, extreme fire danger, plummeting prices, etc.
I agree with you, Ed! We need the sheriff’s department to stop fake eradication and Do Their Job!! Any of this could have happened easier and quicker under existing marijuana law without bringing along a large entourage of pencil-pushers to chime in on ridiculous “violations” like sleeping in a trailer on your own property. What annoys me- Many of us had a rural lifestyle here in the 70s and 80s and may have grown a little weed to help out with basic expenses so we could be in this beautiful place. People got greedy. Then very greedy- using those of us who were little rural dwellers as cover for what they were doing- blowing up huge scenes and trashing the area. Now with this scam “legalization” the county is going after grows but instead of concentrating on weed they are fining for all these other violations that are a part of rural living. Lived in a teepee with an outhouse until you got that unpermitted but code-or-better cabin built? Yes we did! And we all fought the county to back off and allow us Class K for building our own dwellings on our own land. The county is using the weed game to upend hard-fought private property rights and add more oversight (registering all water sources? Have a plan to submit about using your own water on your own property?) And now the greediest growers of all- those that made huge $$$ by blowing up huge scenes over the 5 year historic drought- are paying the license fees and everybody else is getting thrown under the bus. Mega-greed growers suck. These permitting agencies who are coming up with new “violations” every day are parasites. None deserve any respect. Where is the resistance? We used to be able to rally around and fight for our rural dwelling rights- back in the day. Has weed changed that too? Are we really now a community of greedy cowards, bending to anything they throw our way? I look around and wonder.
You must have been reading my mind for the last few years word per word, couldn’t have said it better my self, I love it here, I was born here and I’ll likely die here someday but I look around and can’t belive what has become of this place, it’s insanity. Sheeple!
Very well said. Couldn’t agree more.
Calaveras; same m.o.
http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_cf7d4f5e-77d1-11e7-ad39-27f358217c1d.html
“Tuesday’s eradication was part of a four-day marijuana clearing plan in Calaveras County. The plan took three months to put together and involved six different government and public agencies. The effort included up to 130 personnel across three different teams spread out across the county. The goal – to hit as many unregistered grow sites as possible. The operation began on Aug. 1.”
“This year, 11 locations have been eradicated with county resources. Sheriff deputies located over 13,500 plants, 476 pounds of processed marijuana and weapons and $62,000 in cash. That was before this week’s eradications.
On Monday alone, 12,617 plants were seized across five properties in the West Point, Rail Road Flat and Mountain Ranch areas. Seven arrests were made, two weapons were seized and two structures were red-tagged. Each of those five locations were smaller than the Whiskey Slide location that was cleared out on Tuesday.”
http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_885ec8f4-78c2-11e7-b011-574e90269cb4.html
‘Authorities seize 27,000 plants and 25 tons in marijuana raids’
‘Human waste was allowed to flow into the river streams.
Pesticide containers were left uncapped, allowing whatever was left inside to seep out into the watershed.
Trash was left around, bulking into clusters of garbage.
Electrical generators were placed atop dry grass, increasing the likeliness of a wildfire within remote areas.
…during what was called Operation Terminus, representatives throughout five agencies including the California National Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California State Water Resources Control Board assisted in the arrest of 35 suspects, and the eradication of 27,000 marijuana plants and 25 tons of marijuana.”
Found this late , Brian , my 2 wrecks are near myers flat . & I can’t dirt on dirt ?
Might want to reply directly to Brian’s post here:
https://kymkemp.com/2017/08/04/violations/#comment-462284
That wheelbarrow was totally violating all sorts of stuff.
Yep which are about one parcel over!
You could say that about most parcels here!
WTF why the cops are
scared .I’m sure they are doing as bad a things as the guys that got busted. I hope the bulgies get what ever is coming to there market flooding grows .
Tobacco and alcohol are the two most dangerous drugs in American society. Together, they kill over half a million people in this country every year and nobody cares. Though marijuana has never been responsible for a single death, we arrest nearly 800,000 people annually for marijuana offenses, and we have been doing so for years. It has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry and it does not keep drugs away from anyone. In the seventy five years since the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937 was enacted, trillions of dollars of after tax income have been systemically extorted from the American people and given to Mexican drug cartels and other terrorists who use this money to do harm to America. The lives of millions of American citizens have been damaged or destroyed by the enforcement of laws that should not exist: laws that were enacted by a bought and paid for government that shouldn’t exist either.
Yet the peabrain prohibitionists who post here are consumed by congenital stupidity and hatred just like most narrow minded right wingnuts!
You can read on this blog about people that marijuana has killed, or missing people associated with devil’s lettuce.
Your “facts” are wrong, because marijuana kills millions of people from dead growers, missing hookers, to children cut down in drive by shootings over dime bags or dope grower wars.
That doesn’t count the absolute environmental devastation that every dope grower strives to achieve.
Dope growers pride themselves on environmental destruction, and seek to leave a Lorrox style blackened path behind them for bragging rights as they use up as many resources to grow dope.
Dope growers rate each other over how much environmental destruction that have accomplished, the volume of human trafficking, body count, neck tattoos, and how much they can haul away in free government services.
If there are a couple dope growers that don’t do these things, odds are they are black sheep with bounties on them by the rest of the growers.
“Marijuana kills millions of people” very funny. If I heard you make that statement in person, I would laugh so hard. What a wingnut!
It’s not funny!! My best friends had bounties on their heads and they were so scared they started trashing their land. Now the growers think that they’re cool too so yeah tragedy and death narrowly averted.
Are these Federal charges? Might explain why there are Federal agency’s involved. Not as easy to dodge federal charges and since everyone voted ” Legalize and Regulate”, they are doing just that. These pieces weren’t permitted, did you all forget that? How else is the county going to eliminate unpermited grows? 10,000 + grows. 2,400 permit applications. You do the math. Did you want legalization and regulation or not ? Make up your minds.
Woke up feeling so good about pissing off the prohibitionists.
After each Walmart weed grow is taken out. The price increases a little bit.
GOOD!