Thread: Full Court Press: Pot eradication operation nets102, but only 43 are charged

Full Court Press: Pot eradication operation nets102, but only 43 are charged

By Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writer
Posted: 03/14/2013 05:47:52 PM PDT

Law enforcement agents prepare to rappel from a helicopter into the midst of a marijuana garden during operation Full Court Press. (TWN file photo) (The Willits News)

Full Court Press was a joint operation centered on Mendocino National Forest over a three week period. The operation involved hundreds of law enforcement agents from a host of federal and state agencies and six county sheriff's departments.
While 102 persons were taken into custody during Full Court Press in the end only 43 were actually charged by federal authorities with crimes.

The operation located 56 grow sites involving 468,950 pot plants, 1,510 pounds of processed pot and 32 guns, according to the final press release from US Attorney for the Northern District of California Melinda Haag.

The operation also removed about 23 tons of trash, more than a ton of fertilizer, 57 pounds of poisons, 22 miles of irrigation piping,


Police cut down marijuana plants from a Mendocino County garden site during Full Court Press. Almost one-half million pot plants were destroyed during the three-week operation. (TWN file photo) (The Willits News)


13 man-made dams and 120 propane tanks.In the U.S. Eastern District of California (Tehama and Glenn counties)
There were 10 illegal aliens sentenced to time served for improper entry into the United States.

There were seven illegal aliens convicted for illegally re-entering the United States after a prior deportation. They received sentences ranging from a few days to 30 months. The defendant sentenced to 30 months had a prior conviction in 2006 for drug (methamphetamine) trafficking.

One man was sentenced to 46 months in prison. He was spotted watering plants on a hillside in MNF where 5,446 plants were eradicated. He told authorities he was recruited from the Bay Area for a promised $20,000.

Five men were captured in an area where 3,642 plants were eradicated. Four were sentenced to 30 months and one to 60 months in prison. Most were recruited in Fresno for a promised $300 per day. One man resisted arrest and was tased during capture.Two men were captured in an area where 4,413 plants were eradicated and a .22 rifle was found. In January 2013, they were sentenced to 70 months in prison.

Two men and a juvenile were captured in an area where 2,296 plants were being grown plus a .38 caliber pistol and a .22 rifle. The two men were sentenced to 71 months in prison.

One man remains a fugitive.

In the U.S. Northern District of California (Lake and Mendocino Counties):

All 16 men arrested on the Lake and Mendocino county side of the Mendocino National Forest during Full Court Press were handed over to federal agents.

There were 10 illegal aliens sentenced to time served for improper entry into the United States.

Four men with prior immigration offenses received sentences from between two and 90 days in prison. A fifth man with a prior immigration offense also pleaded guilty to being an alien in possession of a firearm; he received a six month sentence.
One man had a prior immigration offense and received a 60 month sentence for marijuana cultivation.

Full Court Press: Pot eradication operation nets102, but only 43 are charged - The Willits News

There were 10 illegal aliens sentenced to time served for improper entry into the United States.

They are finding illegal aliens all over these massive grow operations and the response from authorities is to release them in the US without deportation for 'time served'

W

The Federal Government is not doing the job it has been entrusted with it seems.