Suspicious UPS Package Leads To Humboldt Pot Farms, 3 Arrests
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- The discovery of a large crate containing marijuana at the United Parcel Freight Service Center in Santa Rosa last week led to the arrest of three Humboldt County residents and the discovery of two large marijuana grows on Tuesday, a Santa Rosa police sergeant said Thursday.
Police responded to a report of a suspicious package at the UPS facility at 35 Frances St., Sgt. Micheal Chad Heiser said.
When narcotics detectives got a warrant to search inside a large crate that was set to be delivered to Florida, they found 113 individual packages of marijuana weighing 150 pounds, hash bricks weighing four pounds and 80 grams of hash oil inside a mason jar, Heiser said.
Police seized the contents of the crate as evidence, and an investigation of the person who was shipping the crate led to the Garberville area of Humboldt County, Heiser said.
On Tuesday the Humboldt County Drug Task Force, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and a Santa Rosa police narcotics team detective searched two locations in Garberville, Heiser said.
Officers found 599 marijuana plants on a 40-acre parcel off the 3200 block of Perry Meadow Road in Briceland, according to the Humboldt County Drug Task Force.
Officers also found methamphetamine, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, several weapons and $40,000 in cash at the residence, the Humboldt County Drug Task Force said.
Officers arrested Jesus Guillermo Grass Martinez, 35, and Juan Canas, 23, for cultivation and possession for sales of marijuana. Canas also has an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold for being in the country illegally, according to the task force.
Martinez's wife Carrie Watcher-Martinez, 40, was cited on the drug charge and released.
The task force also searched a property under Jesus Martinez's control in the 9000 block of Wilder Ridge Road in Ettersburg at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and found 195 outdoor marijuana plants between five and eight feet.
No suspects were found on the property, according to the drug task force.
Heiser said Santa Rosa police and the Humboldt County Drug Task Force were investigating the incident.
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