Sonoma County garden bust yeilds pot
worth $51 million

By James Lanaras, Bay City News Service

August 10, 2006

SANTA ROSA (BCN) - A Sonoma County narcotic task force eradicated 29,195 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $51 million during a three-day operation in northwest Sonoma County near Annapolis, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department reported Wednesday.

Sgt. Chris Bertoli said agents raided more than 18 garden locations during the first two days of the operation. They were lowered by helicopter into the garden sites in thick terrain, Bertoli said.

On the first day of the operation, 9,818 plants were eradicated and one handgun was seized, Bertoli said, and on day two, 8,518 plants between 5 and 8 feet tall were eradicated.

Plants that had reached the budding stage were netted from the gardens and immature plants were destroyed on site. Several campsites with makeshift water reservoirs were destroyed, Bertoli said.

Narcotics agents split on the third day to conduct simultaneous raids 14 miles west of Lake Sonoma on Skaggs Springs Road and five miles up Geysers Road in Healdsburg, Bertoli said. The team on Skaggs Springs Road eradicated 4,265 plants and the other team eradicated 6,594 plants, Bertoli said.

The task force has eradicated more than 71,000 plants so far this season and the California Department of Justice Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP, supported the raids, Bertoli said.

Copyright © 2006 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

####