Sacramento, CA - Northern California game wardens made huge pot busts in September, confiscating nearly 200 pounds of high-grade marijuana with an estimated street value of $700,000. On two separate occasions, at the risk of life and limb, game wardens arrested five suspected pot growers and confiscated several bails of “ready-for-sale” pot, before it could reach the street. Working in remote areas and alone, both wardens stopped vehicles, confiscated the pot and arrested the suspects.

“Both cases illustrate how our wardens regularly confront dangerous criminals, by themselves, with no backup,” said Ryan Broddrick, Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Director and a former warden. “They do this dangerous work in the interest of public safety and California’s fish and wildlife resources.”

These most recent busts serve as a reminder of the life-threatening work of fish and game wardens, especially when they come across marijuana cultivators in the remote patrol areas. In August 2005, Warden Kyle Kroll was shot through both legs during a raid on a marijuana farm in Santa Clara County. He has since recovered and returned to work.

Colusa County Warden Brett Gomes was on a spotlighting detail Sept. 19 when he saw two people in a vehicle who had obscured their license plate. Spotlighting is a technique that poachers use at night in an attempt to kill deer by shining a bright light in their eyes.

Warden Gomes made an attempt to stop the vehicle, but the suspects jumped out of their car while it was moving, fled on foot and escaped into the forest. When backup arrived 20 minutes later, the car was searched and 139 pounds of processed marijuana was discovered in six luggage bags. As Gomes, CHP, and Colusa County Sheriff’s deputies were processing the vehicle, another car arrived with two occupants. Neither was able to produce valid identification. Two bags, similar to those confiscated from the first car, were removed from the second vehicle. An examination of the two bags revealed about 30 additional pounds of processed marijuana. Both suspects were arrested.

On Sept. 16, Shasta County Warden DeWayne Little was on routine patrol during the opening of deer season. He observed two people driving at him recklessly and at a high rate of speed. He stopped the vehicle and when he approached, he smelled marijuana. In the back seat of the vehicle he discovered several large plastic bags. The bags contained 19 pounds of marijuana. Little handcuffed both suspects, and called for backup. Because he was in a remote area, it took 45 minutes for backup to arrive. Suspects Celerino Martinez Gomes, age 37 and Juan Delacruz Vazquez, 21, both of Yuba City, were arrested and booked into Shasta County Jail.

Marijuana was often grown in foreign countries and illegally smuggled across the U.S. border. In the last few years, however, drug dealers have adapted to increased international border controls, and turned to remote areas of California to cultivate their crops. DFG Wardens regularly patrol these remote areas, and run-ins with these cultivators have been more common in recent years.

Wardens regularly participate in raids on marijuana gardens with other law enforcement agencies and to build cases for environmental crimes committed. Cultivators regularly divert streams for irrigation, unlawfully apply pesticides and herbicides to the crops, dispose of waste on the land, and poach fish and wildlife from the area with no regard to seasons or species, all illegal activities that are harmful to the environment.

“DFG’s top law enforcement priorities are met when wardens take down marijuana cultivators,” said Nancy Foley, DFG’s Chief of Enforcement. “Our public safety responsibilities are met along with protection of the environment.”

Outdoors enthusiasts are advised that if they come across a marijuana garden, they should exit the area immediately and take note of its location. The cultivators could be present and should be presumed armed and dangerous. They should proceed immediately to an area where they can call 911, or contact the nearest law enforcement officer. Information such as GPS waypoints, vehicle descriptions and license plates in the area, including ATVs, or a description of physical landmarks of the area will be especially helpful.