Man accused of growing pot on USFS property
A two-week investigation by El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies ended with the arrest of a 21-year-old Mexican national on drug charges.
On June 21, the West El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team along with the Mountain and Valley Marijuana Investigations Team entered a suspected marijuana grow operation on U.S. Forest Service land north of Stumpy Meadows Lake, east of Georgetown.
Omar Ruiz Talauera was booked into the county jail on charges of resisting an officer, cultivation of marijuana and possession for sale of marijuana.
Omar Ruiz Talauera
Deputies said the suspect was dressed in camouflage and attempted to flee.
Deputies said the operation created extensive resource damage to the area. Thousands of square feet of timber had been clear cut to accommodate the illegal growing operation. The tops of the stumps that were left behind, were painted green in an apparent attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement aircraft. Several empty bags of fertilizer and trash were found in and about the garden area, which was directly above the Rubicon River, a tributary of the Middle Fork of the American River, eventually leading to the North Fork of the American River and into Folsom Lake.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
This happens all over the west. Illegals growing illegally on public lands, absolutely trashing the property, poisoning it, then leaving it. There’s only one way to stop this.
Legalize it! In the meantime, put these criminals away for the damage they do.
For once, and perhaps for the last time, I somewhat agree with Dog. Legalizing behavior that is already a part of our culture is a no brainer. In a free society, laws don’t dictate behavior, behavior dictates laws – eventually.
But, anti-government knuckleheads notwithstanding, we need to provide financing and direction for law enforcement folks to go out and protect our environmental resources. And I guarantee that Forest Service law enforcement, while up to the task individually, isn’t even close to dealing with the problem as an organization. Nor are almost any of the other alphabet soup federal law enforcement folks. Much less so due to the anti-government rhetoric of the ignorant.
ummmmm, Dog, isn’t it already legal? Medical Marijuana is legal last I checked in this state, which led to the grows.
What I think you meant to say was to make the growing legal, as in regulated.
OH and further I’ve been told its no longer politically correct to refer to someone as here, “illegally” or as class as “illegals”. Apparently those designations are degenerating and in effect create a 3rd class. Instead the more correct term I’ve been told is now, “undocumented democrats.” There ya go all better! =)
No, it’s still illegal as far as the feds are concerned, and legal growing is still a problem. Obviously.
Ask me how much I care if it is pc to call someone an illegal. He is here illegally. He is committing a crime by polluting public lands. He is an illegal. Though I do appreciate and acknowledge your preferred definition.
I’m not sure how legalizing the weed will stop cultivation on public land. It seems it would increase cultivation in those areas when legalized.
Bob, If pot is legal for everyone, instead of just being restricted to ‘medical’ users and ‘dispensaries’, it will become so cheap there won’t be enough money to be made to make it worthwhile to go through what they do with those illegal grows on public lands. You don’t see Mexican nationals clearing and booby-trapping public forests to grow lettuce and tomatoes, do you?