Operation by Sonoma, Napa officers nets 34,000 plants in one of largest busts in recent years
Last Modified: Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 5:51 p.m.
Sonoma County drug agents seized nearly $60 million worth of pot plants from clandestine plots at Kenwood's Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and near Mount St. Helena.
More than 27,000 immature plants were destroyed in a raid Tuesday in the northwest section of Sugarloaf, Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Bertoli said.
An additional 7,000 plants were seized on the northwest side of Mount St. Helena, bringing the total to 34,000 plants.
"Having over 20,000 plants in a single garden, that's a huge grow," Bertoli said.
The plant seizure appeared to be among the largest in recent years.
A year ago, narcotics agents seized 25,000 plants in one week at two locations in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. And in 2006, agents netted 30,000 plants over three days at four gardens around Sonoma County.
Growing pot on public lands, including parks such as Sugarloaf, has become commonplace in California. Of the nearly 3 million plants seized last year by the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting task force, about 75 percent were seized on publicly owned lands.
But the size of the raid, on popular parkland close to the Sonoma Valley, was unusual. The park lies only about two miles east of Highway 12, though it stretches back into the hills nearly to Napa County.
The Sugarloaf plants were spotted during aerial surveillance a couple of weeks earlier. At the time, most or all of the plants, then seedlings, appeared to be in makeshift greenhouses, Bertoli said.
They were 18 inches to 2 feet tall when, because of the rough terrain, agents were airlifted into the area Tuesday, Bertoli said. When mature, the plants could produce marijuana buds worth about $1,750 a plant in street sales.
Tuesday's raids were part of a joint operation involving the Sonoma County narcotics task force and the Napa Special Investigation Bureau, said Bertoli, who leads the Sonoma County task force.
Law enforcement agents also found two campsites near the Sugarloaf plants and evidence of several people living in each. It appeared they left hurriedly Tuesday morning, leaving behind lit candles and warm food on the tables, Bertoli said.
The gardeners probably came and went through private property off Los Alamos Road, he said.
Law enforcement personnel also observed large amounts of d-Con rodent poison around the area and found several dead field mice and squirrels, as well as one dead red fox, Bertoli said.
A natural spring had been diverted to irrigate the gardens, he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.
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