Thread: Sierra pot raid nets 12,000 plants, one arrest

Sierra pot raid nets 12,000 plants, one arrestBy Louis Galvan / The Fresno Bee07/18/08 23:12:06
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A suspected marijuana grower was arrested and nearly 12,000 marijuana plants were eradicated during a raid Friday in the North Fork area, a Madera County sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Five other suspects believed to have been involved in the same marijuana growing operation were taken into custody earlier this week, Erica Stuart said.

Dubbed "Operation Fatigue," the raid took place in rugged terrain deep inside Sierra National Forest. The only way in and out for the law enforcement teams was via helicopter.
Stuart said some of the plants were 6 feet tall and that the gardens were watered with irrigation systems.

Arrested on Friday was Leonardo Parra-Topete of Mexico, 19. Arrested earlier in the week were Antonio Olvera, 52, of Delano; Mario Olvera, 20, of Pond; Victor Aguilar, 24, a transient; and Serafin Pena-Loza, 35, and Jose Pineda, 26, both of Madera.

Friday's raid brought the number of plants already destroyed in Madera County this year to more than 74,000, passing last year's record count of 54,683, Stuart said.

The raid included members of the Madera County Narcotic Enforcement Team, the U.S. Forest Service, the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the Madera Regional SWAT Team, and CAMP -- Campaign Against Marijuana Planting.

Top officials with the CAMP program, a multiagency marijuana enforcement and eradication task force established in 1983, were not available to comment Friday, but a member of the program said it was too early to get a good picture on what to expect this season.

CAMP-led operations, which usually run from July through October, got started this year on July 8, and Thursday, after only nine raids statewide, nearly 436,000 plants had been destroyed.

In 2007, CAMP eradicated 2,905,021 plants, which had a street value of $11.6 billion, according to statistics made public by CAMP staff.

Approximately 75% of the plants were on public lands and 25% on private lands.

The 2007 season saw CAMP raids with 53 arrests and the seizure of 41 firearms -- shotguns, handguns, assault rifles and other firearms.

Tulare and Fresno counties ranked among the top 10 in the state for the number of marijuana plants seized and eradicated by CAMP in 2007.

Tulare County, with more than 160,000 plants, placed fifth among California's 58 counties -- behind the Northern California counties of Lake, Humboldt, Shasta and Mendocino, in that order.

Lake County had 482,775 plants; Humboldt, 271,056; Shasta, 270,728; and Mendocino, 220,436.

Santa Barbara ranked sixth, followed in seventh by Fresno County -- with CAMP destroying more than 131,000 plants.

The CAMP figures, however, only reflect operations in which the state agents participated.
The reporter can be reached at lgalvan@fresnobee.com or (559)441-6139.

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/739165.html

So CV, what are you trying to say about our wonderfully diverse Central Valley? I always thought diverse meant that you had a somewhat equal sprinkling of cultures. Well when you have more than half of the population in a certain group of which the MAJORITY can't and won't speak English, I wouldn't call that diversity. It is more like a trashing.

Well we do lead in a number of areas-

- failing students
- stolen cars
- gangs
- overcrowded schools and prisons
- so-called poverty
- unemployment
- teen pregnancies
- illegal drug manufacturing/trafficking/use
- families with numerous kids and NO father
- crime

Seems the opposite is not true, our one great accomplishment doesn't rule out all the above oh sh-ts.

FRESNO STATE UNIVERSITY - COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

Seems the opposite is not true, our one great accomplishment doesn't rule out all the above oh sh-ts.

What is our one great accomplishment to which you refer AF?