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September 27, 2010
Glenn County, California - Quick-thinking Department of
Fish and Game (DFG) Warden Michael Beals single-handedly
apprehended four men transporting marijuana in Glenn County
recently. The arrest also netted 40 lbs. of pot, grown illegally
in Mendocino Forest, with an estimated street value of $40,000.
On Sept. 12, the Willows-area warden was driving into Mendocino
National Forest to patrol for deer poachers. He noticed that the
bed of a gray pick-up truck driving toward him in the opposite
direction was full of uncovered demolition debris, including
drywall.
It seemed odd, Beals said, because you rarely see people coming
out of the forest with a load of construction debris. Theyre more
likely to go into the forest to illegally dump that kind of trash.
As the truck went past, he saw chunks of the gypsum board flying
out of its bed and onto the pavement. Allowing anything to leave a
vehicle and litter the highway is illegal, so Beals initiated a
vehicle stop on the garbage-filled truck.
Outside the truck, the driver said he and his three passengers
were construction workers and the material flying from his truck
bed was from a house they had been working on. He lifted a piece
of the drywall, which allowed Beals to see what appeared to be a
large bag filled with dried marijuana. Beals then arrested the
driver and the three other occupants of the vehicle.
During the subsequent investigation, Warden Beals learned that two
of the trucks occupants had been working in an illegal marijuana
garden hidden in the Mendocino Forest when the Glenn County
Marijuana Eradication Team had flown over in their helicopter. The
two were able to grab 40 lbs. of dried, processed weed and run
into the forest, where they contacted two friends in the valley.
Their friends picked them up truck and all were headed home with
approximately $40,000 worth of pot, when Beals attention to detail
ended their trip. All four suspects were booked into the Glenn
County jail and are being held there for numerous drug trafficking
violations.
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