3rd Large Marijuana Farm Uprooted

Federal and local investigators Monday uncovered yet another huge marijuana plantation deep inside Matilija Canyon--more evidence, law enforcement officials say, that an international drug ring is roosting in the remote folds of Ventura County.

This time, authorities dragged more than 5,500 plants out of Los Padres National Forest, the product of a sprawling pot farm carved out of the wilderness by drug dealers believed tied to a Mexican cocaine and heroin cartel.

The weekend discovery--miles from any roadside--was the third major marijuana patch found in the rugged terrain of northern Ventura County in the past three weeks, bringing the number of confiscated plants to almost 16,000 since late July.

By day’s end Monday, thousands of pounds of high-grade marijuana, worth tens of millions of dollars on the street, was packed up, carted off by helicopter and scheduled to be destroyed.

The latest illegal patch is suspected of being planted and maintained by the same Mexican cocaine and heroin cartels believed responsible for two other illegal plantations discovered recently, officials said.

“We do have some leads, and those leads have definite ties to major cocaine traffickers in the Southern California area,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Arnie Aviles said.

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“Each row is identical to the next, and the evidence is the same,” he said. “That’s why we were able to tie in the group.”

Sheriff’s deputies and U.S. Forest Service agents chopped down almost 6,500 marijuana plants a week ago and seized another 3,800 plants late last month.

Drug agents spotted three suspects rummaging through the wilderness Monday but lost track of them in the thick brush. The equipment being used to grow the plants was very sophisticated.

“They were using pesticides, damming up the creek, cutting down trees, poaching and they left their trash at the site,” Sheriff’s Capt. Craig Husband said. “They are doing terrible damage to the back country.”

Det. Maureen Hookstra said that evidence found at all three sites led investigators to conclude that the farms were planted by the same suspects.

“This is obviously an organized group,” Hookstra said. “They’ve got the same type of grove set up and the same kind of equipment. We believe that it’s related.”

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No arrests have been made in any of the cases.

Hookstra said that the Sheriff’s Department was alerted to the pot garden late Friday, when two hunters gearing up for the weekend opening of deer season stumbled into the patch of 6- to 8-foot plants.

One of the men used a cellular telephone to call his father, who then notified the authorities.

Hookstra said the two hunters reported hearing voices they assumed were those of the marijuana growers, and fled the area in fear.

“They thought they may have been being chased,” she said. “They were concerned for their safety.”

The hunters spent the night in the forest and used the cell phone to make arrangements to meet sheriff’s deputies Saturday morning. They led drug agents to the farm site, where investigators found growing equipment, 50-pound bags of fertilizer and some weightlifting gear, among other things, Hookstra said.

The growers “had been there for a while,” Hookstra said. “It was several miles from the road and there were no trails leading to the area.”

Officials used Sheriff’s Department helicopters Monday to survey the rugged terrain in an effort to uncover further clues.

Andrea Connor lives at the end of North Matilija Road, the closest access route to that section of back country where the marijuana was located.

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On Monday, she watched as bale after bale of marijuana was dragged away by the Sheriff’s Department helicopter. She said the idea of pot growers using her neighborhood to farm drugs is a scary prospect.

“I have a 6-month-old baby,” said Connor, who works as a caretaker at the 650-acre Matilija Wildlife Refuge. “It does kind of worry me, thinking about those kind of people being around here.”

The profile of marijuana growers has changed significantly in recent years as the illegal herb has become more and more valuable. An ounce of high-grade pot can fetch as much as $400.

“The stereotype has changed,” said Aviles, the sheriff’s sergeant. “It’s an organized crime group that is operating these marijuana groves. They’re very sophisticated, and they know what they’re doing.”

The vast landscape and remoteness of the high country covering most of north Ventura County make it an attractive place for illegal cultivation, officials said.

Abel Reynoso, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent based in Los Angeles, said growers often seek out farmland that is difficult for drug agents to access.

“There has always been a lot of growing going on up there in the northern parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties,” Reynoso said.

“Those areas are away from the general public and away from law enforcement,” he said. “Growers like the seclusion.”

Reynoso said such farms are almost impossible to find without help from the public.

“Usually people stumble onto those locations and report them,” he said. “It’s a pretty rugged area, so it’s not easy for law enforcement to find by themselves.”

Arrests are even more difficult to come by, Reynoso said.

“The growers have a bunch of lookouts, so as soon as they see someone coming in, they boogie,” he said. “That’s why there’s hardly anyone arrested.”

Despite the impending harvest season, local law enforcement officials were not certain Monday why so many marijuana patches are turning up in the county.

“I don’t know if you can compare us to Humboldt,” Hookstra said. “But this is a lot for Ventura County.”

Times photographer Steve Osman contributed to this story.