The State : 3 Held in Pot Farm Raid

One of the biggest indoor marijuana-growing operations ever found in Humbolt County has been closed down by sheriff’s deputies who arrested three people and confiscated 1,300 plants. The crop was found in Hydesville, a tiny community 25 miles southeast of Eureka. Charged with cultivation and possession for sale of marijuana and conspiracy were Steven Machado, 32, his wife, Malynda, 28, and Ben Torres, 38, all of Hydesville. Deputies said the marijuana plants were one inch to four feet tall, and they also found six pounds of dried and packaged marijuana. The haul was worth about $200,000, the deputies said. Also seized were cultivation equipment, two generators and a tractor.