Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 2015
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Ukiah Daily Journal
Contact: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/feedback
Website: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/581
Author: Justine Frederiksen

DEPUTIES CUT DOWN PINOLEVILLE POT PLANTS IN UKIAH

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office chopped down dozens of 
marijuana plants growing at the Pinoleville Rancheria Tuesday after 
serving search warrants at two properties reportedly owned by the 
tribe, one at 650 Pinoleville Drive and one at 2150 North State Street.

MCSO spokesman Capt. Greg Van Patten said the response was a 
culmination of months of investigative work, which included flights 
over the property on Pinoleville Drive, which as of mid-summer he 
said had more than 400 plants.

"There has been some harvesting since then, so we estimate there's 
about 200 plants now," Van Patten said, explaining that the MCSO 
believes the growing operation is illegal because it is "for 
financial gain, based on statements made" by the Pinoleville Pomo 
Nation. "Having any kind of financial gain as your motivation (for 
growing marijuana) is against state regulations."

The plants were growing at 650 Pinoleville Drive, and while the 
deputies were cutting them down, people on the property could be 
heard yelling at them.

"So white boys can grow whatever they want, but Indians can't grow 
s--t?" said one man.

Van Patten disputed the inference that his office was only arresting 
Native Americans, adding that "our enforcement has been across the 
board in how we respond to this activity."

While representatives of the Pinoleville tribe argued in the past 
that their planned operation to grow solely medical marijuana would 
be legal, Van Patten said California is a Public Law 280 state, 
meaning that "Indian land falls under local jurisdiction," which in 
the case of the Pinoleville Rancheria is the MCSO and the Mendocino 
County District Attorney's Office.

In addition to the plants, Van Patten said deputies found drying and 
processed marijuana at the North State Street site, along with what 
he described as a "very sophisticated honey oil operation," which he 
said was stocked like a chemistry lab.

"That is just the tip of the iceberg over there," he continued, 
adding that deputies expected to spend hours at that site, which they 
estimated "easily had $100,000 worth of equipment."

Van Patten said the MCSO believed the two sites were part of the same 
operation, and "we have knowledge that plants were transported from 
one site to the other."

The chemical extraction process involved in honey oil production is 
illegal, Van Patten said, but no one was at that site when deputies 
arrived to serve their warrant. He did not expect any arrests to be 
made in connection with the operation Tuesday, which he said was more 
to "gather information before presenting the case to the District 
Attorney's Office.

Michael Canales, president of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation's business 
board, said Tuesday that he was shocked by what he described as a 
raid, adding that the MCSO did not need warrants, because Sheriff Tom 
Allman was "invited out any time he wanted to see what we were doing. 
We played by his rules as far as our testing facility was concerned, 
and the grow site was perfectly legal."

Asked if what the MCSO believes is a honey oil lab were legal, 
Cannales said it was, because "it was a medicine testing facility 
that has been closed for weeks and not in operation."

According to information released late Tuesday, the MCSO responded to 
the North State Street site Sept. 18 when a burglary alarm went off 
and "contacted several individuals who were transporting cut 
marijuana plants from 650 Pinoleville Road to the building." The 
group reportedly said they worked for the tribe.

After obtaining search warrants for both properties, deputies removed 
382 growing marijuana plants Tuesday from the grow on Pinoleville 
Road. Several marijuana plants had reportedly already been harvested.

More than 100 pounds of trimmed/processed marijuana was reportedly 
removed from the building on North State Street.
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