Cannabis Property in the Permit Process Raided After Substantial Violations Discovered, Says Cal Fish and Wildlife
Information from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The information has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:
On Nov. 18, 2020, wildlife officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in conjunction with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Eradication Team, Humboldt County Code Enforcement, Humboldt County Department of Environmental Health and CDFW Environmental Scientists served a search warrant at a private property located off Hidden Valley Road in Larabee Valley near Bridgeville.
The search warrant was part of an ongoing investigation into illegal drafting of water during the late summer/early fall months when water flows are most critical to aquatic life. Evidence gathered by wildlife officers showed the suspects were using a gasoline powered pump to draft water unlawfully from the Van Duzen River and then transporting it to their cultivation operation.
The investigation was prompted by an anonymous call to Cal-TIP.
The property had an interim cultivation permit from the County of Humboldt and a provisional license from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). During the investigation and a property inspection in the early fall, numerous Fish and Game Code (FGC) violations were documented, which included unlawful diversion of an entire stream flow to irrigate cannabis plants. Humboldt County Code Enforcement found an unauthorized water delivery, unauthorized water diversion and unauthorized grading in a streamside management area.
Along with this, CDFA discovered additional violations, which included cultivation in excess of the license, failure to use the California Cannabis Track-and-Trace/Metrc system and having products from unknown locations. In response to the large number of violations, CDFA revoked the provisional license to commercially cultivate cannabis on Sept. 28, 2020. The Humboldt County Planning and Building Department followed suit and revoked the interim permit on Sept. 29, 2020.
During the service of the search warrant, officers located and destroyed 153 pounds of processed cannabis bud (stored in one-pound bags) and over one-thousand pounds of dried cannabis in various forms of processing. All of the plants were harvested. CDFW staff found that all FGC violations discovered in Sept. had not been remediated.
A total of six individuals were detained and the case will be referred to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office for consideration.
On Nov. 18, 2020, wildlife officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in conjunction with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Eradication Team, Humboldt County Code Enforcement, Humboldt County Department of Environmental Health and CDFW Environmental Scientists served a search warrant at a private property located off Hidden Valley Road in Larabee Valley near Bridgeville.
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🕯🌳But this is another case of neighbors snitchin on neighbors. Not good. 🖖🖖
If my neighbor was killing a precious resource that belongs to us all just so they can make money, I would snitch them out in a heartbeat.
So, you are snitching on all of the folks that are stealing the eel river water shed water at over 80 billion with a B gallons a year so that they can plant more and more grapes along the Russian river ? These vineyards act as if water is always gonna be at their disposal leaking lines running equipment during using the water to prevent dust instead of ripping out their orchards while the conditions wouldn’t require the wasting of water to keep their soil from blowing away ……. oh I get it, as long as the folks stealing the resources that belong to everyone have enough political pull and money for campaign donations , it isn’t stealing nor wasting it is merely lawful use right ? Meanwhile up in the hills it is the evil weed farmers who are shouldering the blame for the lack of water … nice little diversion campaign these folks play pass the buck while making wads of cash. It would be nice to see a true audit of how many cases per year these wineries truly produce verses how many they say they are producing, from the ones I have seen there is a strong case to be made of tax evasion .
It’s worse than you say. The mainstem Eel is diverted to Sonoma County and Santa Rosa where there are warehouses full of plants being blown out and greenhouses everywhere using that Eel River water to grow….weed! And the Sonoma County sheriff does nothing about any of it….it’s an open secret.
Legal versus illegal brainless.
So Willy, how do you suggest that those of us that feel like we are stewards of our watersheds respond to blatant distructive activities by our neighbors?
Well maybe try to respect the land you share with your neighbors.
Willie, WTF? This is as old as union folks bitching about “Rats” crossing picket lines. If they don’t like their job, quit. Lots of folks would be happy to have it.
I’d “snitch” in a heartbeat to protect animals and the environment over dirt bag scum. You just like to use that snitch word to attach some bad connotation to it that doesn’t exist anymore. Nothing noble about protecting criminals. Hopefully those days are over even in Humboldt. Let’s get these types of growers out of Humboldt and allow the environment to heal.
Didn’t say neighbor. One agency helping another
Actually it is very good. Good folk turning in criminals. Very good for the world.
The trimmer called her brother. Time to harvest.
Must get storage unit to avoid mafia.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/31/new-york-billionaire-philanthropists
And if it wasn’t for the reporting of the water-stealing to CDFW the county would have kept looking the other way and collecting fees and taxes for this almost-permitted “legal farm” of “good players”.
They revoked their permits in September.. I doubt they were expecting any more money from these guys.
Wrong they will still get a bill for square footage! I have neighbors that were abated last year owe 40 g on last years square footage and they allowed them
to harvest another 300-400 pounds this year without any permits just so they can collect square footage tax and get last years money too…… This is the biggest crap shoot I’ve ever seen. For those of us trying to do it right but still have so many hoops to jump threw as the 1.o now have had 4 going on 5 years to bring they’re operations to code but haven’t! Supervisors are in for a long year of complaints and law suits ahead of them this year!
“Legal “ grow near me is quite visa le from the main road. Covered with trash, plastic greenhouse covers strewn about, a mish mash of greenhouse styles and they just got thru their second year of harvests. Obviously the county can see them when they drive by and obviously no one from the county has set foot there yet. It boggles the mind.
Unfortunately they don’t seem to care about trash as long as it stays contained on the property , is not “hazardous” and not near a waterway. We have a grow next door, 240 ft from our house and it is a mess. Looks like a hoopie junkyard with plastic cut offs ,abandoned tarps and weeds all over …….but they do comply with the legal regs and track and trace so I guess that’s what matters . No where in the 67 pages of rules does it say you have to be “neat”……..unfortunately for the neighbors.
Yes it does. You are required to have a designated trash area.
They comply with track n trace?! Not knowing anything about the place I would wager money that they do not. No permitted grow that I know does so and they’d be idiots to do so …they all play both sides and claim to play only the “legal” side. That is how the game is won….and the county doesn’t care while the state rarely to never inspects.
Though I don’t know any, I don’t doubt that some fully licensed growers also grow and sell unlicensed product. There’s nothing stopping such a grower from having a second grow somewhere remote from the licensed grow and also participating in that market.
Any loose thought however that you can just grow with a State license and then sell significant volume of that licensed product ‘out the back door’, or ‘off the back dock’ is nonsense. Any thought that you can just not comply with the state track and trace is also nonsense. All of these thoughts are held by folks who don’t hold a state license.
State licenses get inspected (every single one I know has had multiple inspections). Every plant has to be tagged and recorded in the system and those tagged plants have to be in the life stage and cultivation area they are reported to be in in the system when the inspector shows up (with very short notice). Production numbers and waste have to match all the way through and waste destruction has to be documented.
Have even a few plants on the premises not in the track and trace system? License in jeopardy (hopefully you can convince the inspector those few plants were an error) Have a large unreported grow? You’re screwed.
Again, there’s nothing stopping a licensed grower from also having separate and distant unlicensed grows, but it’s not happening under the protective umbrella of a state license. The system isn’t perfect and if one is determined (and willing to take some risks), one could divert small amounts of product without flagging the computer algorithms that track such, but it’s not as easy (or as big) as people who have never been through the system imagine and throw around.
There went that million dollar payday. Might have to sell that new Tundra.
Who thinks most pot growers give a shit about the land? Get a hold of some land , grow a bunch of illegal weed, make a ton, and split. People in this line of work aren’t going for long term, more like rip, and run. Sure a few consider themselves locals, but unless someone had a shit ton of kids, they are mostly opportunists, from outside the triangle. That has been the M.O. in Mendo county for years and years. 50 years ago when we grew, it was on someone else’s land, but we kept it clean to prevent detection.
Low IQ farming