Nearly 5,000 Marijuana Plants Found In Raid Near Mount Hamilton; Suspect Arrested
The latest raid took place near Mount Hamilton, where authorities seized 4,700 marijuana plants, the sheriff's office announced Tuesday.
Officials also arrested one of two men tending plants, who was run down and caught by a member of the sheriff's K-9 unit. The second man managed to escape.
Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. James Jensen says a high-powered weapon was recovered at that site. "This stolen AR-15 had steel-piercing rounds and was ready and loaded," Jensen said, adding that the rounds are illegal in California.
Jensen says the pot farm was on UC Santa Cruz property near Lick Observatory, so students and faculty could have been endangered.
"It's a danger to the public at large because this is UC Santa Cruz property," Jensen said. "So students and faculty could be walking on this property not knowing there's a marijuana grow, and could be shot and killed."
It's the sheriff's department's fifth marijuana raid in the last month, netting a total of 28,000 plants and eight arrests.