Sheriff's Dept. Warns About Illegal Marijuana Cultivation

News release from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department:

The advent of the 2015 marijuana harvest season has seen an increase in illegal marijuana cultivation in Riverside County. The Sheriff’s Department would like to remind landlords, property owners and renters that growing and selling marijuana for profit remains illegal in California. Those who allow marijuana cultivation on their property are subject to arrest and prosecution.

During the 2014 harvest season, which ran from April to September, the Sheriff’s Department investigated and eradicated 75 outdoor marijuana grows. These investigations – conducted by sheriff stations serving the unincorporated areas of the county and/or those in cities that contract with the sheriff – led to 90 felony arrests for the illegal cultivation of marijuana.

In many cases, those in charge of large swaths of property had rented some or all of that property to marijuana cultivators. Drug traffickers will often approach homeowners or renters on large parcels and offer payment in exchange for allowing them to grow marijuana on the property. The traffickers then hire a third party to maintain the plants and harvest the marijuana.

But contrary to drug traffickers’ claims, California law does not allow the growth or sale of marijuana for profit. State law is very specific: California has decriminalized the growth and use of marijuana only for seriously ill individuals with a doctor’s prescription and only in the small amounts reasonably necessary to accommodate an individual’s medical condition. Those who exceed such limits are not exempt from criminal investigation or prosecution, even if they have a doctor’s recommendation for marijuana.

The Sheriff’s Department began identifying an increase in the number of outdoor marijuana grows in 2011, with a slight uptick each year. So far in 2015, the Sheriff’s Department has eradicated 36,700 marijuana plants, arrested 37 suspects for cultivation, and seized more than 254 pounds of processed marijuana along with $78,000 in cash.

In a recent example, the Sheriff’s Department made 10 arrests in Mead Valley on April 30 in connection with the seizure and eradication of 816 mature marijuana plants. The following suspects were arrested and booked into the Southwest Detention Center:

-- Salvador Becerra, 51, of Mead Valley
-- Martina Barajas, 43, of Mead Valley
-- Jaquelina Kelly, 24, of Mead Valley
-- Alejandro Verdusco, 27, of Mead Valley
-- Ruffino Herrera, 19, of Mead Valley
-- Joel Herrera, 25, of Oceanside
-- Eredria Ortega, 44, of Mead Valley

They face charges on a range of criminal violations such as cultivation, drug possession, vehicle theft, child endangerment and weapons charges.

The Sheriff’s Department remains committed to enforcing the law in Riverside County, and will continue to deploy resources and personnel, as needed, to investigate reports of illegal marijuana cultivation.