By BEN BROWN and RICHARD ROSIER The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 05/03/2008 04:01:30 PM PDT
More than 800 marijuana plants, more than 100 pounds of marijuana and an assault pistol were seized during the search of a Robinson Creek Road home Thursday, according to reports from the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force.
Task Force Commander Bob Nishiyama said officers served a search warrant on a house at 6620 Robinson Creek Road Thursday and found 885 small marijuana plants in two indoor gardens.
Officers also found between 100 and 150 pounds of finely ground marijuana, four ounces of "honey oil," a pound of processed marijuana, a set of brass knuckles and a Mac 10 assault pistol.
Officers arrested the home's occupants, Andy Daniel Smith and Tracy Lee Smith, on several drug charges. Their children, ages 7 and 3, were turned over to the Mendocino County Office of Child Protective Services.
Nishiyama said it appeared the suspects were using the finely ground marijuana to make "honey oil," a substance made by heating marijuana with butane to reduce it to a concentrated oil. He said there were 17 tubes for making honey oil and two cases of butane in the house.
In addition to the Mac 10, officers also found a one-footlong screw-on flash suppressor, designed to hide muzzle flash, and two 30-round magazines loaded with Black Talon ammunition.
Black Talon ammunition is designed to shatter on impact with a soft target in order to do maximum damage, Nishiyama said. The ammunition was pulled off the market by the manufacturer in 1993, and is illegal to import or sell in the United States, Nishiyama said.
He said the Task Force had not test fired the Mac 10 yet, but said the gun's design makes it easy to convert to fire on automatic. Neighbors in the area had complained about hearing automatic weapons fire, he said.
Officers also found a bypass on the home's electric meter, allowing the suspects to power their garden for free, Nishiyama said.
"They were able to run both indoor grows without paying for the electricity," Nishiyama said. "It was you and I who were paying for the electricity."
Nishiyama said bypasses like these are a public safety hazard because they pull enough power to cause transformers to blow.
"If it happens during the summer, it can be a considerable fire hazard," Nishiyama said.
The process of making "honey oil" can also be a fire hazard because it requires the use of volatile gas, Nishiyama said.
The Smiths were arrested on suspicion of cultivation of marijuana, manufacture of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana for sale, maintaining a residence for the production of a controlled substance, being armed in the commission of a felony, possession of an assault weapon, grand theft of utilities and felony child endangerment.
Both were booked into the Mendocino County Jail.
Ben Brown can be reached at udjbb@pacific.net.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Couple arrested in Robinson Creek pot raid
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
2 arrested in gang assault; searches find indoor grows
Ukiah Police officers arrested two men Monday in connection with a gang related assault late last month and uncovered two small marijuana gardens.
According to UPD reports, Robert Briseno, 31, and Jesus Martinez, 35, allegedly attacked two men in the parking lot of the Lucky's grocery store on East Perkins Street March 22.
According to police reports, Briseno had seen the victims inside the store earlier and taunted them by referring to them as "scraps" and challenged them to a fight outside.
According to police reports, "scraps" is an insulting term used by Norteño gang members to refer to Sureño gang members.
The two men responded that they were not gang members and Briseno left the store. When the two victims came out, Briseno allegedly attacked them. According to police reports, Martinez saw the fight and joined Briseno in attacking the two men, leaving his 3-year-old child unattended in the parking lot.
After the alleged assault was over, Briseno and Martinez fled the parking lot, according to police reports. Martinez allegedly grabbed the 3-year-old child, flung him into the car and drove off without securing the child or closing the door, according to police reports.
On Monday, officers stopped Martinez in his vehicle in the 600 block of East Perkins Street and arrested him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, participation in a criminal street gang, child endangerment and conspiracy.
Officers served a search warrant on Martinez' home and found evidence linking him to the Norteño street gang as well as an indoor marijuana grow of more than 50 plants, according to police reports.
Martinez's children were turned over to Mendocino Child Protective Services.
A second warrant was served on Briseno's apartment on South Oak Street, where officers found evidence linking him to the Norteño street gang and an indoor marijuana grow totaling more than 80 plants, according to police reports.
Both marijuana grows were seized by members of the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force.
While the search warrant was being served, officers found Briseno at work in the 700 block of South State Street and arrested him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and participation in a criminal street gang.
Both men were booked into the Mendocino County Jail on the above listed charges.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Brooktrails pot bust, two arrested
By Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/05/2008 11:14:18 AM PST
A sophisticated indoor marijuana grow on Oriole Drive in Brooktrails was searched on February 26 by Mendocino County Sheriff's officers, leading to the arrest of two residents. Nearly 20 pounds of processed bud, 152 mature pot plants, firearms and packaging materials were found during the search, say police. A 3-year old child at the was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Danielle Lanzit, 26, and Nicholas Grilli, 27, were arrested on suspicion of cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale.
Based on an electricity bill found at the scene, the residents were apparently being helped with their $1,500 per month electricity bill by the CARE low-income subsidy, say deputies. For a three-person household to qualify for a CARE subsidy, gross income is limited to a maximum of $34,400 per year.
Lanzit and Grilli qualified in 2007 for a $350,000 mortgage with estimated payments of $30,000 per year and real estate taxes of $1,900 according to public records. These payments, along with the electricity costs, suggest a somewhat higher annual income than is allowed under the CARE program.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company does request verification of income for CARE subscribers, says spokeswoman Jana Morris. This verification typically involves an income tax return or record of wages and salaries. CARE procedures are established by the California Public Utilities Commission and PG&E is unable to question CARE subscribers even when electricity use nearly equals their total income allowed under the program.
At the wholesale rate of $2,500 per pound, the pot in the Oriole Drive home is valued at about $430,000.
Friday, February 15, 2008
7 arrests, 5,000 pot plants in second raid
By BEN BROWN/The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 02/15/2008 09:09:38 AM PST
Seven people were arrested and more than 5,000 marijuana plants seized in Dos Rios Wednesday in an early morning raid by local, state and federal law enforcement officers.
Law enforcement officers served a search warrant on a remote ranch near the Eight Mile Bridge in Dos Rios at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and seized 5,275 plants, ranging from seedlings to full-grown budding plants, as well as 100 pounds of processed marijuana, $20,000 in cash, two handguns and five rifles.
Officers also arrested: Kite Isaac Finds the Feather, 29, and Amanda Lee Wood, 28, both of Dos Rios, on suspicion of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and child endangerment.
When officers arrived on scene to serve the search warrant, the suspects fled in a Jeep down a dirt track toward the Eel River, taking three children, ages 6, 5 and 2 years old, with them.
After the subjects were arrested, the children were turned over to Child Protective Services as per the drug endangered children protocol.
Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Lt. Rusty Noe said it was not clear whose children the kids were; Wood and Finds the Feather were living together in Dos Rios.
Officers were led to the ranch through investigation into a separate case by the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team and the Drug Enforcement Agency, which is ongoing.
"This was a spin off of that," Noe said.
COMMET, assisted by DEA agents, officers from the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and
deputies from the Sonoma County Marijuana Eradication Team, served the search warrant.
After the suspects were arrested, officers searched the ranch and found an extensive marijuana growing operation, Noe said.
Two structures on the property were being used to grow marijuana, according to sheriff's reports. One was a barn that had been converted into a grow room; the other was a starter room and processing shed.
The starter room contained 271 grow lights run by a 400-kilowatt generator. Noe said the generator was three or four times the size of a car.
"It was one of the most extensive grows I've ever seen," he said.
Officers also found a second 350-kilowatt generator at the ranch as well as 25 gallons of waste oil and a large plastic tank containing fuel for both generators. Officers called the Mendocino County Department of Public Health to investigate any possible environmental hazard.
When officers were leaving the scene, a Mendocino County sheriff's deputy saw a man walking on Highway 162 one mile from the scene and questioned him.
The man, Romero Juan Agudo, 24, was one of the people who had fled the house. Agudo told deputies that he was one of seven men living on the property who had been working in the marijuana garden, according to sheriff's reports.
On Thursday morning, sheriff's deputies arrested four more men who are alleged to have been part of the operation. One of the suspects, who had left his wallet at the scene, was identified as Antonio Alfonso Agudo, 21; the other men have not been identified.
All five men were arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation and were booked into the Mendocino County Jail on no-bail immigration holds. Noe said it is not uncommon to find illegal immigrants working in illegal marijuana gardens.
Wood and Finds the Feather were booked into jail and are being held on $500,000 bonds each.
