Mendocino Deputies Find Trafficking Victim at Navarro Cannabis Site; Suspect Faces Multiple Felony Charges
A Navarro man is under investigation for allegedly holding a person against their will for roughly two years, forcing them to work at an illegal cannabis operation under conditions investigators described as inhumane, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office announced this week.
Jesse Upton faces charges including human trafficking for forced labor, illegal cannabis cultivation with an aggravating environmental factor, manufacturing a controlled substance, possession of cannabis for sale, and assault with a deadly weapon, according to MCSO. The case is being referred to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
Deputies served a search warrant at the Navarro property on May 4, 2026. The victim told investigators that Upton used force, fear, coercion, and physical abuse — including assaults with weapons — to prevent them from leaving. The victim reported being housed without pay, adequate food, bathroom access, or humane living conditions throughout that period.
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- A digital scale, torch, mason jars containing what appears to be cannabis concentrate, and other processing equipment found at the Navarro property. According to MCSO, investigators also located a butane honey-oil manufacturing laboratory at the site. Photo: MCSO.
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- Hundreds of cannabis plants under commercial grow lights inside a structure at the Navarro property searched by MCSO deputies on May 4, 2026. Investigators say the operation contained more than 300 plants and over 600 pounds of processed cannabis packaged for sale. Photo: MCSO.
Inside a structure on the property, deputies found an active indoor cannabis cultivation operation containing more than 300 plants, along with over 600 pounds of processed cannabis packaged for unlawful sale.
Investigators also found a butane honey-oil extraction laboratory on the property, along with more than 240 gallons of butane stored in multiple tanks. Under California law, unauthorized chemical extraction of cannabis concentrate using butane is considered manufacturing and can be prosecuted as a felony.
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- Multiple large butane and gas cylinders crammed into a storage area at the property. MCSO says investigators found more than 240 gallons of butane on site, part of an unpermitted honey-oil extraction operation. Photo: MCSO.
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- A stainless steel closed-loop extraction vessel with valves and fittings, part of what investigators described as a butane honey-oil manufacturing laboratory. Unauthorized butane extraction of cannabis concentrate is a felony under California law. Photo: MCSO.
Beyond the drug operation, deputies documented significant environmental damage. Investigators noted steep terrain with no containment measures and visible runoff pathways leading toward Flynn Creek, a tributary of the Navarro River watershed. Fuel and oil products, fertilizers, foreign soil, and chemical additives were found scattered across the property with no containment.
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- A filthy outbuilding at the Navarro property, showing coiled irrigation hose, chemical containers, and a floor covered in what appears to be oil and debris. Investigators documented extensive environmental contamination at the site. Photo: MCSO.
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- Fertilizer jugs, chemical containers, trash bags, water storage tanks, and equipment debris littered the forested property. Investigators documented significant environmental degradation with no containment measures on steep terrain above the Navarro River watershed. Photo: MCSO.
The victim was connected with support services through the Northern California Coalition to Safeguard Communities, known as NCCSC, a five-county law enforcement and victim services partnership focused on human trafficking and organized crime at illegal cannabis operations.
The NCCSC is funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation through its Center to Combat Human Trafficking. Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall serves as Treasurer on the coalition’s board, alongside sheriffs from Humboldt, Lake, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties.
The NCCSC awarded Mendocino County’s Sheriff’s Office $170,631 for 2024-25 and the department has applied for $254,716 for the coming year. The money pays for personnel dedicated to investigating human trafficking and organized crime at illegal cannabis sites — a shift in how law enforcement approaches grow operations. Where workers at illegal sites were once routinely arrested alongside operators, agencies are increasingly focused on identifying who is a suspect and who may be a victim.
The case remains under active investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact MCSO at 707-463-4086, option 1. Anonymous tips can be submitted to the non-emergency tip line at 707-234-2100.
The information in this article has not been proven in a court of law. Jesse Upton should be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Press release from MCSO: Alleged Human Trafficking Investigation Leads MCSO to Illegal Grow Operation
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Warren Buffett taught his kids well.
I’ve seen interviews with him and I was very impressed.
Something he said still rings in my head.
He was talking about his goal to donate his assets to good causes, in total, before he dies.
He said, “I’ve got enough clothes and things to last me for the rest of my life. I don’t need to spend money on myself.”
I keep remembering that. Especially as I get older.
… This story is appalling.
You’d think someone would have known about this.
But maybe there are places in Mendocino that are really that hidden.
I read the article. But it didn’t say if the land owner had been apprehended.. ?
hidden?
in a residential neighborhood
with a hoa and community pool?
someone is not smoking og again
universal basic income is inevitable in some form
plenty of corporate welfare already
Well, the community is not filled with tract homes. There is plenty of acreage and places to hide in the woods.
in rancho?
just ten acre parcels
super nosey hoa
1/2 are bay area whiners
if you lived there yould know that
The reference to Warren: his son is the founder of the foundation mentioned in this article.
Except for maybe NOT paying the help this looks like a regular every angle covered operation! Not easy to set-up or succeed at. I’m guessing this guy got No massive government subsidies and tax breaks like the welfare ranchers grazing BLM lands and FS lands and military(premeditated murder) contractors or the tech vampire’s building AI data centers all over. This guy is also not committing a genocide or destroying the global economy.
In other words this guy is not the real problem we as humanity faces right now. Just a moralistic distraction to keep the consumerist puritans believing its not consumerist puritanistic moralism thats the real problem.
Summary of your comment: ”this guy is not the real problem we as humanity faces right now”…except for maybe(ha-ha-ha)NOT paying his help. Just a regular operation providing “medicine”! Damn ranchers! Pay no attention to the obvious other “trumped” up charges.
everything you’ve said is true
and scummy mc scumbag had his operation set up in a pretty residential neighborhood
im born raised and live nearby
glad to see him go
and supporting the ai/war/prison & military industrial complex is also major bummer
but a tasty doobie or two may take the edge off
Isn’t forcing someone to work without pay called slavery?
Do you really know what “this guy” is doing? Do you really know what every “welfare rancher” is doing? Do you even know what every “military(premeditated murder) contractors” is doing? What if “this guy” is a “military(premeditated murder) contractor ” and the person reported as being trafficked is the impoverished child of a “welare rancher”?
I guess not paying your worker and polluting the environment doesnt count?
good riddance
glad to see this scumbag arrested
time to leave town for good jesse
best thing to happen from govt collapse of weed is watching scum leave the area
down to seeds and stems now
ha ha
100k bail
what a joke
now fine the landowner and sell it at auction
i hope all the weed rush scumbags leave i personally never liked all the johnny and janey come latelies looking to make easy money
props to the locals who welcomed them
be some good boomer owned properties coming up when they croak and thier outta town kids can’t sell them and locals dont have money or jobs to buy them
cant happen soon enough
imho
easy money? you clearly never worked a crop in your life just sit behind a keyboard in your moms basement
When someone makes other people work for them and doesn’t pay them, taking profits for themselves while skirting the cost of labor, that’s called “easy money.” The person being trafficked works the crop… the person profiting does NOT work the crop when they use human trafficking for labor. I could name some “weed rush scumbags” who never touched their crop until it was in the turkey bag. They are exploiters and abusers who should be held accountable.
Yes. Unfortunately the Greedrush brought many of them here. They almost made me hate weed- they were that lame, weak and terribly douchey….Some people here thought it was great because they never saw behind the fake stories and fake smiles of these asshats. A few greenrushers were okay and came here for the same reasons many older residents came- love of nature, hard work pays, living independently and they have enriched our scene. But most sucked us dry and destroyed it all…
It seems to me that any system holding profit as the SOLE objective, would be inevitably stripped of all values that aren’t monetary (integrity, grace, etc.)
And so many growers who had their heart in the right place, compensating laborers fairly EVEN when it meant paying themselves significantly less than years past, couldn’t compete with the combination of literal slavery plus corporate investment down south blowing up multi-acre greenhouse operations… Go figure.
Rampant nihilism, blatant disregard for human/any other life aren’t unique to local cannabis markets, though. It’s the essence of neoliberal free-market capitalism, just a backdrop of the iteration of Western society that we exist in presently. Relatively ubiquitous, no real anomaly here… investigating industrial agriculture, or production of any product could turn up horror stories of human trafficking.
oh joe
who said anything about easy money?
you’ve obviously never actually worked a real job a day in your life
also
youre tripping hombre
been deppin since the late nineties dog
literally never been in a basement
little keyboard cowboy
crack me up
sad
also still proudly anti scumbag
totally low energy
sad
So full of hate and blame for outsiders and so much feeling of frustrated entitlement. Scary.
How come no pictures of the deplorable living conditions?
I remember a couple of guys blowing the doors off their trailer with them in it making that butane hash.
That’s not even remotely an answer to my question, but thanks
Whatever the final outcome in court, he should get 2 years tacked on to his sentence for that trash pile.
Go to covelo the amount of slavery going on there with the cartel grows is mind-boggling the cartel controls a huge part of the valley. It’d be nice if ice showed up.They could fill up many bus loads full of the worst of the worst of biden’s illegals
Jesus Christ man… racist much?!? This story isnt about covelo tho. It’s regarding one of your own. Comment on that!!!!
IT’S ABOUT CANNABIS SLAVERY.AND BY THE WAY, THE CARTEL ENSLAVES ITS OWN PEOPLE, OTHER MEXICANS, DURING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, THE CARTEL CONTROLLED OUR BORDER CHARGING PEOPLE AROUND $8000 TO CROSS THE ONES WHO DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY HAD TO WORK IT OFF WITH THE CARTEL. THE WOMEN OFTEN TURNED INTO PROSTITUTES. THE MEN, SOME OF Them.\n Would end up working for their cartel in the many of their illegal activities, there is hundreds of hoop house. In Covello and hundreds of illegal aliens, mostly Mexicans working for the cartel out there as slaves. Remember, the Republicans freed the slaves in the Civil War, Lincoln was a Republican The KKK was democratic, but I’m a racist for pointing out that we now have slavery in Mendocino County, you’re a weak minded libtard. It’d be nice if ice came to covelo
Long live ICE.
Ok DogKiller. We all know who you are and what you stand for, literally.
Just go away, this community (Laytonville) doesn’t want you nor does it welcome you
Hey! I use the same kind of plant food!
Thanks to you Jesse, getting Pinkman-handled is a verb I wish didn’t exist