Pubdate: Fri, 13 Sep 2002
Source: Press Democrat, The (CA)
Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/
Feedback: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/services/feedback.html
Address: Letters Editor, P. O. Box 569, Santa Rosa CA 95402
Email:  2002 The Press Democrat
Fax: (707) 521-5305
Author: JEREMY HAY

FEDS RAID SEBASTOPOL POT FARM; 6 DETAINED

DEA Seizes Thousands Of Plants; Petaluma Man Accused Of Assaulting
Agent

SEBASTOPOL -- Federal agents Thursday raided a ranch on the outskirts of 
Sebastopol, carting away thousands of mature marijuana plants and arresting 
the owner of a Petaluma pot club.

It was one of the largest marijuana seizures on the North Coast in recent 
memory.  At least six people were being questioned, but only one had been 
arrested by late Thursday.

Robert Schmidt, 51, owner of the Petaluma marijuana buyers club, was held 
on suspicion of assaulting a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. One 
agent, who insisted on anonymity, said Schmidt was arrested after he tried 
to strip another agent of his firearm.

Schmidt had rented the six-acre property since March. His Petaluma club, 
Genesis 1:29, also was raided Thursday.

A Chevrolet Blazer loaded with what one agent said were computer hard 
drives from the club drove up and parked beside the ranch house while 
agents were taking a lunch break from cutting down marijuana plants with 
chain saws. Crossbows and knives also were seized at the ranch, agents said.

Neighbors said Schmidt was growing marijuana for Genesis and numerous other 
clubs around the Bay Area that sell marijuana for medical use.

California voters approved an initiative in 1996 allowing medical use of 
marijuana with approval from a physician. But possession of marijuana 
remains a federal offense, and the Justice Department has stepped up 
enforcement since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge last year.

Medical marijuana activists condemned Thursday's raid, saying it would 
endanger an amicable relationship they have developed with local law 
enforcement agencies. In 2001, Sonoma County District Attorney Mike Mullins 
said he wouldn't prosecute small-scale growers who could show a viable 
medical marijuana claim. Under county guidelines, people with physician 
approval may have up to 99 plants or three pounds of dried marijuana.

"Trust has built up between the Sheriff's Department and the medical 
marijuana community, and the DEA, by these kinds of actions, really puts 
that at risk," said Ernest "Doc" Knapp, spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance 
for Medical Marijuana. David Charlebois of Sebastopol, who owns the ranch, 
said Schmidt told him he was going to grow corn. He had suspicions about 
the operation but didn't confirm that Schmidt was growing marijuana until 
Wednesday.

Although he supports medical use of marijuana and called Schmidt an 
excellent tenant, Charlebois said he'll consult an attorney about evicting 
him. "That's my retirement investment over there, so I have to protect the 
property," he said.

Throughout the day, the pungent aroma of marijuana mingled with the sweet 
smell of Gravenstein apples from a nearby orchard as about a dozen armed 
agents took down a crop they estimated at about 3,000 plants. Neighbors 
said Schmidt told them he had more than 5,000 plants.

"Is this the medicinal part?" one agent could be heard saying, his joke 
followed by a chain saw's loud grinding.

Officials at the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco 
declined comment, refusing even to confirm that a raid had taken place or 
that Schmidt had been arrested.

Neighbors, who asked not to be named, said they began complaining about 
Schmidt a month ago to county authorities and were told he'd been under 
investigation for a year and a half.

Some neighbors said Schmidt had been open, even somewhat "of a braggart" 
about his operation. "He said he has around 5,400 plants and it's worth 
millions of dollars," said one woman. "He's very proud of what he's doing, 
trying to provide marijuana to patients."

One neighbor said the conflict wasn't with Schmidt or with medical 
marijuana. Their concern was the large quantity of marijuana being grown in 
a residential area. They were worried particularly about the potential for 
violence that can accompany the valuable crop.

In 1999, armed robbers invaded Schmidt's Petaluma home, tying up Schmidt 
and four other occupants, including two children, before making off with 
marijuana being grown for his club.

Last year, in response to pressure from the city and neighborhood 
complaints, Schmidt moved the club to a commercial office park on South 
Point Boulevard in east Petaluma.

Over the past year, the DEA has conducted at least four raids in Sonoma 
County targeting pot clubs and self-described medical marijuana advocates 
and growers.

Schmidt, a former welder, has said he suffers from asbestosis, a lung 
disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. He went to federal prison in 
the 1970s for smuggling marijuana from South America.

In 1996, after being arrested in Petaluma for growing pot at his home, he 
opted for a drug treatment program instead of battling the charges in court 
as a way to test the newly-passed Proposition 215. 
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart