Encroached, Endangered, and In Need of Enforcement: Mendocino Co. Sheriff On His Agency’s Response to Round Valley’s ‘Invasion of Illegal Marijuana Grows’
A video posted on the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page Tuesday (see above) featured Sheriff Matt Kendall describing an “invasion of illegal marijuana grows” propagating in Round Valley and vowed to increase efforts to eradicate them. The video explained the case of a missing San Jose man Victor Medina, who was last known to be working on a grow site near Covelo, prompted a search warrant being served on a Round Valley farm resulting in the arrest of two workers, detainment of 8 more, and the eradication of 22,148 plants.
Yesterday, Sheriff Kendall spoke with us about his agency’s responsibilities to protect Round Valley’s residents and resources.
Kendall explained how illegal growers are displacing and intimidating Round Valley residents from their tribal lands. He described prospective growers finding “a distant relative of someone that has ties to the reservation” and paying that person to use their tribal lands “even though it’s not their land because there are 300 other names on it.” The grower will then “set up a grow” on that land and “any native that goes up there, they run them off.”
Aerial photo provided by the MCSO
Sheriff Kendall expressed concern that “there has been a lot of violence associated with these grow sites.” He described over the last fifteen years, there being thirteen homicides in Round Valley, and “about 10 of them are directly related to illegal grows.”
Kendall also candidly spoke about a dramatic disparity in wealth now observable in the town of Covelo between the outsider growers and the locals. “They are people who have come from out of the area who have come up to make money.,” he explained. “To be honest with you, when you drive through Covelo now, you’ve never seen so much money surrounded by poverty.”
[Screenshot of the MCSO video above]
Sheriff Kendall addressed MCSO’s limitations when attempting to mitigate the rise in illegal marijuana grows: “We can’t put the genie back in the bottle. It used to take a couple of hours to chop down a 500 plant grow. Yesterday, we were just under 23,000 plants which is an all-day event and it takes a lot of manpower to get it done.”
To bolster his agency’s efforts in combating the illegal grows, Sheriff Kendall emphasized the importance of seeking resources for support: “We’re going to seek out every resource that we possibly can. I’ll ask for resources from the US Forest Service if these grows touch the forest. I’ll be asking for resources from CAMP and the California Department of Justice, DEA, DOJ, and FBI. Any resource that I can use to help take care of the problem without putting the burden too much on the taxpayers.”
Addressing the jurisdictional challenges MCSO navigates when enforcing marijuana laws in Round Valley, Kendall explained, “Tribal lands, for the most part, are federal lands. The tribe can allow members to grow 25 plants but if the federal government shows up, they don’t care.” Sheriff Kendall expressed trust in the Round Valley Tribal Council in determining what is right for their tribal members and said he knew that when “they started calling us and saying ‘we’ve got a problem’ if we don’t be good partners to them, they won’t be good partners to us.”
MCSO’s support of Round Valley’s law enforcement efforts is legally mandated by Public Law 280 which “compels county sheriffs to enforce the laws on tribal lands,” Sheriff Kendall explained. According to Kendall, tribal law enforcement has a limited toolset to mitigate these illegal marijuana grows: “They’ve been running around kicking …non-tribal members off tribal property” and then tribal police can “make a citizen arrest and then the sheriff has to go and accept that arrest.
Sheriff Kendall assured the increased eradication of illegal marijuana grows will not infringe on those following the law. “We’re not going to mess with anybody that’s legal,” he explained. “It would be a waste of our time. This work is not cheap. I cannot afford to waste money on people that aren’t breaking the law.”
Kendall argued that increased enforcement against illegal marijuana grows could incentivize these growers to consider crossing the threshold into the legal market. He asked, “If we just go after the ones that are just doing the damage and being illegal, how long will it be until we don’t have to deal with it anymore because everyone moves into the legal market?”
As to any illegal marijuana grower, Kendall simply said, “If they’re breaking the law, they are breaking the law.”
Earlier Chapters:
- Detectives Searching for Missing San Jose Man and Complaints of Intimidation by Marijuana Growers Led to Massive Bust of Illegal Grow in Covelo, Says MCSO
- Three Search Dogs Deployed at Yesterday’s Large Bust in Covelo in Attempts to Locate a Missing Man, Says MCSO
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Good. Arrest them all and chip their crops.
you mean after they die of natural causes right
Hey, bring out a D4 or D5, and just bulldoze them down. Can’t provide license and permits, plow the thing down. Take all their money and equipment, send them walking out to the welfare office. The tribal police should be front line, they know who is legal and who is not. It is one thing to grow a dozen plants in your back yard, it is another to negatively impact native people and their lands. No permit means the tribal police can eradicate it. Cut them loose, let them wipe out the illegal grows, and someone has a dozer for them to use or rent. How about earth first? They have been quiet on this. But they have probably been paid off by the growers. Hey earth first, why don’t you go in and shut down these big polluters? You think nothing of trying to stop a legal logging op, where are you now? Just don’t care anymore having been paid off by Maxxam? Lets see some balls, lets see you start shutting down these heavy polluters, and save our animals and environment. Perhaps earth first could set up a town patrol, if you do not have a permit, you don’t buy the soil and fertilizer. Or stop all the 18 wheel trucks full of dirt, if they cannot prove the delivery address is legal, they turn around. Same with the filthy diesel grows, no permit, no fuel. Earth first stopped lot’s of logging trucks, why not these illegals? Maybe the earth just isn’t important to them any more.
Totally agree, Tribal should have one, there you go. This should have been delt with 2 -3 year’s ago. So let’s start the dozer. Next crop Agency Rd.
EF! isn’t going to do anything about illegal grows because they who have been among their biggest donors.
Cops are not going to do shit every year it’s the same thing bust Soom real big operations while all the people doing 10 deep House’s just keep on doing what there doing not counting that out door grow unless they bring in the military in large numbers this shit just going to keep going and the cops are not going to do shit about it……………
Comical to say the least. Whatever happened to being proactive and not reactive?
Send em back
With a vengeance.
What about a sign up for volunteers willing to help with the eradication like volunteer firefighters…
Napalm in the winter. Round up in the summer.
If you think Covelo is a shit show, drive around Trinity county.
Not even a close comparison. If you don’t like trinity county, please stay the hell away, we don’t like you either
Don’t make comparisons about places you’ve never been to.
What about a sign up for volunteers willing to help with the eradication like volunteer firefighters…
round em’ up and send em’ to Columbia
You mean San Jose since they are US citizens.
How do you know they are US citizens?
Did you see their documentation? Doubt it!
Did you see, hear or read anything about immigration agents, anywhere. Would you like to know why……guess, c’mon, I will give you a few minutes.
Did you figure it out or are you still trying to blame another country to help feed flames of racism. The Nazis ran a similar marketing campaign in 1938 to bring their countrymen together, today we call it propaganda. [edit]
Oh, don’t forget about the treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo.
The Mexican-American war was fought by a lot of volunteers also.
But even before that…the native Americans made it really hard for Mexican/Spanish to hang around. The Spanish would bribe them with goods, but then the missions came to an end bc of lack of funding when Mexico became independent.
So if you want to feel sorry for someone… feel bad about Cholera killing off some badass natives.
When hell freezes over Sheriff.
//“If we just go after the ones that are just doing the damage and being illegal, how long will it be until we don’t have to deal with it anymore because everyone moves into the legal market?”//
That’s ancient prohibition paranoia Sheriff. You’re the law, of course you’ll demand everybody submit to the legal offence. As big and powerful as your argument is, it’s still wrong. You’re attempting to eradicate a huge culture in California. The majority says … back-off.
Leave the honest hard working small-scale cultivators to lead the way. Your legal side isn’t in control. It’s always the same, lead, follow or get out of the way. You can make a difference Sheriff.
On the wrong side again, eh.
Making a prediction, either this year or next, a massive US action will be formed to bring down fury on these massive grows, then for the first month, they will drag every 30 plant established mom and pop family grow into court on federal charges. They might make a token large scale bust of some clone queen. The action will be given an impressive name like Operation Green Death or Operation Ream Grandma.
Kendall explained how illegal growers are displacing and intimidating Round Valley residents from their tribal lands. He described prospective growers finding “a distant relative of someone that has ties to the reservation” and paying that person to use their tribal lands “even though it’s not their land because there are 300 other names on it.” The grower will then “set up a grow” on that land and “any native that goes up there, they run them off.”
looks like organized crime element.
🕯🌳And most of them distance relatives had New York lisence plates. 👁👁👁🇺🇸🇺🇸
Most meth and heroin come from Mexico. Just watch national Geographic on channel 276 on Directv. They just found 76 kilos of meth in a van. They say they take out more meth from Mexico than anyone. If we had strictly enforced laws, and took out the drug distributors here, there would be no way to sell it. No meth, no crime. The border agents take thousands of kilos of drugs out of trucks and cars monthly. All most people do is blame others. Time to stop this.
I saw it on tv….. it must be true
Covering their asses since they leased the land. Most are from the bay area and I am all for keeping them out.
No, most of them are from Mexico and in the Country illegally.
Zero mention of any federal immigration being involved, zero. You would think with the Nazi like propaganda being spewed today they would politicize their cause but again ZERO.
The cartel is on the hill top. Can’t get no more organized then that. Been hearing about that for the last couple years too.
I live next door to one of these illegal grows, where Spanish is the lingua franca, and three related tribal members, out of 62 names on the tribal land records, have contracted three grows with three different crews. One of those tribal owners is a retired chairman of the tribal council. To my understanding, the tribal police turn a blind eye, since many of their friends and relatives are in on it, or shall we say are being exploited by highly organized groups of Hispanic outsiders.
Generators run all night, water is being taken out of a live creek on the North Fork Eel watershed, grows are within 10 feet of the creek, fertilizer and pesticide runoff is highly likely, and my sanity is seriously challenged. The response to yesterday’s Covelo Refuse Road bust seems to be putting in more greenhouses. What does it take to get Sheriff Kendal and lieutenant Barney up here to Hulls Valley, where there are at last count, five giant non permitted grows?
I’ve never seen so many soil trucks heading into tribal housing before…
They’re back, and taking them down. Go Sheriff Kendall. Bust, confiscate, deport.
Yes put them on that slow greyhound back to San Jose where they were born.
Rod grass I’m with you brother, I’m old school been around well since I was being chased by helicopters 80’s and 90’s.who are these commenters ??? Wher the f=ck did these lops come from??? These clowns don’t see the bigger picture here ,the government is stealing our land,our rights, the Humboldt abatement program is a complete and total disgrace to our flag,forefathers, bolth my grandfathers who faught the nazi’s and japs in ww2.cant evan drink your spring water on your own land (UNCONSTITUTIONAL) we are headed for total slavery and this is ground zero wher it begins. Take a look at the PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION maybe this county needs a massive lawsuit against it.this place is definitely way too extensive but 99 plants or less of a LEGAL plant should be accepted
What do you mean “cant evan drink your spring water on your own land ?” I drink mine exclusively. Water from my spring, I mean. Also, you mean a massive law suit against the county abatement program, and not the Pacific Legal Foundation, don’t you?
Burnt Roach – what he means is that the state has now declared that they own *all* the water in the state. Using said water without permission – which means permits and fees – you are committing a ‘trespass again the state.’ So guess what – you drinking your own spring water, on your own land is indeed illegal now unless you have jumped through all the hoops for CDFW and the Waterboard and paid their extortion fees. Every time you pour a glass of your spring water, you are committing a crime now.
We had deeded water rights to a spring we’ve been using for 20 years. CDFW completely cut us off from it – we can no longer use it, period. Doing so would be considered an ‘environmental felony’ which they can charge you $10,000 per day per violation and a violation can be as minor as having what they consider an undersized culvert. They have already used these tactics to begin to seize property and force people off their land.
Even to grow a veggie garden now you have to have a ‘domestic use permit’ and pay fees and report use to the state every year to use it. These state agencies are totally out of control and have no accountability or oversight. CDFW and the Waterboard are nothing short of domestic terrorists organizations, sponsored by our tax dollars.
Yeah, the state tried that baloney on me because of my spring. I proved them wrong when the spring source was documented to be on my land.
I think it turned out that, they didn’t want my spring’s water, instead, they didn’t want me to use it.
Homesteader, RG, thanks for the explanation.
Don’t forget the discharge fee for the water that runs off your property 😭
Can’t make this stuff up
Yeah for sure I drink my own spring water too, have been more than 45 years. I think it’s a great source of positive health.
I drink my spring water too, until i told my neighbor. Now the county wants to tax me and abate my spring because of foot traffic and the rare purple velvet toed humboldt spring toad lives there.Dam, guess I’ll have to buy that Detroit river water Aquafina. Hey, it’s filtered 7 times!
Thanks old timer.
At our age the best we should hope for is to help people understand the historical perspectives we all share. 50 years ago this world was easier to love and respect. I don’t mean the people, I mean the authoritarian overzealous punks who are in powerful positions. Seriously, I believe the laws and regulations are being systematically extended beyond their intent. We’re being harmed by those who want to take from us.
Hang in there!
Agreed. I got a letter from the state water board wanting to know where I got my water from. I responded “the store” haven’t heard back. If they ever come to find my spring I’m going to have to act shocked. I’ll tear it out and put in back 5 minutes after they leave. It’s ridiculous that they can just mail a letter demanding that you tell them if your breaking any of their made up laws, with no evidence of any kind
Has the sheriff ever heard of RICO?
Why doesnt the Sheriffs office just drop a plane load of something non toxic over the whole operation? Even a coupla loads of water wld wreck the grow. Keep doing it till the cartels are gone.
Weeds LOVE water, the more water the more they GROW but your going in the right direction, I still like the dozer. Or maybe just make the guilty one’s cut them down. That would be really adding insult to injury 😂.
Are you kidding? Giving a dep crop a good soaking a couple weeks before harvest in that 100 degree Covelo heat would rot them buds fast! Hit the full terms a couple of times since it wouldn’t be as hot, you could rot entire crops pretty easily. Shoot they could get real dirty and soak moldy weed in the water so that its inoculated with botrytis spores
The words 25 to life will get anyone’s attention. Only if it’s enforced.
But wasn’t Shannon Barney taking kickbacks from growers 2 decades ago…..?
it’s a wise sailor who will trim his sheets to the prevailing wind.
Thanks for mentioning the effects on water quality of the Eel River. I’ve been swimming in the Eel River since the early 70’s and have really noticed the change with the algae situation and water levels. South Fork of the Eel seems lower earlier in the year for sure. Access to river areas have changed a lot. Redwood Creek and Chezum’s pond are gone. Years ago I was at swinging bridge swimming up river from the main pool and found a whole bunch of smashed 5 gallon buckets with hose faucets and drip line in the river. Perhaps the ground water sustainability group will help establish some helpful guidance for the health of the river system and also the fish population.
The newly introduced farms in the watershed definitely are a factor with the water issues.
If you look at the water allocation systems in the Central Valley you can see how politically sensitive water issues are. Many areas have allocations based on available water from storage areas. The grow countries are moving from outlaw attitude to business mode. Change isn’t easy. I have property in the high desert area of north west LA county. People could buy dry land, build a house with no well and pay for hauled water. LA CO stopped that and set rules for having a producing well in place before building. The yield requirements for the wells were beyond what many of the existing wells produced. Many people have land that now can not be built on. Change isn’t easy.
The logging industry has changed somewhat to address water quality and fish issues. Better sooner than later for the grow industry to address these issues for the river and fish.
Kym, any word on the hit and run in Mckinleyville yesterday, where a teenager was hit?
This is me speaking as a human not a reporter. I caught part of it on the scanner. My impression was that there may have been road rage and the prius driver who fled may have been in fear of the other driver BUT I did not get it clear enough to write a piece on it. And I’m behind so I let it go.
“Sheriff Kendall added, “There is no doubt in my mind” that massive algae blooms in the Eel River are directly connected with fertilizer usage. Kendall celebrated Round Valley’s stewardship of its natural resources “hoping they’ll be there for future generations” but feared trespass grows could compromise those resources.”
PLEASE Kendall explain to me what happens to our rivers and streams when Mendocino Redwood Company hacks and squirts harmful pesticides (banned in Europe because they are toxic) all over their thousands of acres of mutilated forests? What happens to the ecosystem when the forest is treated as a cash crop? When your loyalty is genuinely focused on preserving the environment across the board from degradation caused by people AND corporations I might buy the need for your services. Otherwise you are setting people up to violate their basic rights. Do not forget folks, for every mega bust like this that makes the headlines, there are 100, 1000 small farmers able to grow medicinal sacred plants in peace and safety at home in Mendocino because they dont have the abatement program like we do in Humboldt County. If our Counties focused on finding these mega sites and left everyone else alone we might survive the coming days. Please effectively protect the environment starting with the corporations which are causing real havoc on the environment.
Where?
Whack-a-mole 🙂
Perrin Hoahlen is a registered sex offender living at the address for years, why did MCSO let this size grow go on until someone ended up dead? Who was getting the kickbacks, interesting that Barney and Kendall are both local boys from Covelo, lets not forget who the key players were in the “Covelo Deputies Covelo Wife Swapping Scandal” where the County had to pay out big money for the alledged abuses and where 2 deputies ended up committing suicide…. look deeper Kym Kemp, there is a very big story here but be careful, past investigators have ended up dead as have deputies…. thise suicides were not suicides inho, there is a reason Tom Allman handed the reigns over to Matt Kendall and it has to do with Covelo , kickbacks, coverup and officers attempting to wash their hands…. the Freedom of Information Act could be used to get a lot of inside information, but be very careful…. there is dangerous corruption from the head of the stream down…. like I warned before!
Oh holy crap you’re freaking kidding me right!!! Been in and out of Covelo forever have lots of family and friends up there. The thing I can say is… sure people may have always grown up there but if you’re looking way back 50 years ago there was not as much fertilizer use, there was not as much land rape, River never really had that MEDUSA FOAM like now. There were not as much out-of-towners, it was more of a family operation if anyone was doing it. Out-of-town family would come in at harvest to help for a month or so and growing would pretty much shut down. Now 24/7 churn with the cartel and meth background. It is hands down the worst thing that’s ever happened to Mendocino, Covelo, etc. It’s a blight on the whole land because it’s spills out of Covelo to all towns within 150 mile radius. Its an epi center of lawless land with long driveways n locked gates to grow, cook, kidnap and cultivate hoaning your nefarious skills before taking the shitshow on the road! . Pretty much everybody’s tweaking all the ladies are dating gentleman that have other motives. I don’t think anybody’s in love with anybody they’re just using it to grow their land, the families want the cash so fuck it. Ladies in the house and the dudes piled out back with all of their buddies Drinking and partying all night, shooting guns it’s tragic. Not like Covelo used to be at all. It was rodeos, family, fishing, simple living. No one drove a flashy, shiny, bullshit big ass truck, trucks WORKED!. You would get laughed outta town driving something like today’s rigs. Lol! . Being tolerant of this blatant abuse of the community are we all numb?. People paying cash, flashing a wad it is easy to look the other way in order to stuff the pocket! Is a nice car or wearing expensive jeans worth your soul? Flashing, flossing, fighting, fucking Damn. Money dont solve problems long term, people who take action do. Sure we can talk about doing something but actually making positive change happen that’s the kicker folks.
❤ Covelo. End of rant…sigh
Wow Mamma…just, wow.
Yep. do a sat search of the area from Dos Rios to the north edge of RVIR and try to find a place that isn’t a growsite. Fuckin weed has ruined the most precious place on earth…
From gold to timber to weed.
Resource extraction knows no self governance..
Laissez-faire failures.
Agree 100% with Mendocino Mama, sad, very sad what we have allowed to occur. Crucial statement….”what we have allowed to occur”. With this big of a grow in the heart of Covelo valley it was known for a long time and nobody did anything about it. That nobody includes the law enforcement, again with this size of grow you would have to be worse than Barney Fife to allow this to occur under your nose.
Sad!
Barney Fife solved every crime in Mayberry including gettin those big time bank robbers in New York city. Maybe if they were more like him I would have to go 100% legal.
This may not be popular but here is a easy deterrant.
Transfer loads of soil should be verified before sale. Permit, ag producing farm etc. If not legit 20 transfer loads should not be slamming up the peak sorry ..
Here’s an eco-friendly and economical form of abatement : pay the tribal members on the adjoining land to grow hemp. Get a few of the big fans used on frosty mornings on vineyards to blow the pollen in their general direction.
I was hoping on this til Mendocino cancelled the hemp meeting because of the Pandemic. Now there’s a moratorium.
I read that too. The growers are just about the only vocal opponents of commercial hemp production in the county.
Trinity is like that. Just walk up and down the rivers and creaks. Pipes hoses pvc every were.sucking our water out, trash, pollution just driving down the road or highways greenhouse after greenhouse after greenhouse I hate it.
That’s how trinity county is too. Green houses every we’re trash, go look at the hay fork river on hyinpom road.OMG it is shocking this year.gross.and what happen to kingsbury creak that is supost to run in to hay fork creak? Some one stold the water.its totally dry and has been all winter.? Some one need to just walk up it till they find the water .
Round Valley Tribes may be looking at 25 plant per enrolled member cap in Round Valley valley on tribal land.
300 members x 25 plants =7,500 plants.
Interesting…300 tribal members.
Covelo town population 1,200 ish +/-.
Another 2000 in the surrounding lands.
MORE TO COME…
Kym does not look deep. She practices absolute garbage journalism. She reports on what benefits her and protects those close to her (ie her family and any criminal involvement they partake in) It sad that our local reporting has become this way. I’m not saying my family is close to perfect (my brother is in prison for a multi state federal bank robbery which went on for over 20 years…we are still digging up gold coins…we were lucky in the fact.)
Kym if your going to report, please do it right. May God bless you and I hope your brother gets the help he needs. You seem to have a loving, respected family in the area. Love you very much
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