Redlands Community News reports
Since the first of the year, the sheriff’s Marijuana Enforcement Team has seized more than 54,000 illegal marijuana plants in remote areas of the High Desert.
The latest raid was at 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, in the unincorporated area of Phelan. Investigators seized 6,588 marijuana plants.
After receiving complaints about large outdoor marijuana cultivations in the area, investigators served five search warrants, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department press release.
They located and arrested two suspects — Rangel Villareal, 32, and Jessica Calleros, 31, both residents of Phelan — during the service of a search warrant at 12200 block of Windermere Road. They also discovered 241 pounds of processed marijuana.
THE SEIZURES
Feb. 4: Three search warrants served at 8 a.m. in El Mirage, an area 12.5 miles northwest of Adelanto in the Mojave Desert. Seven suspects arrested, one each from the California towns of El Mirage, Hacienda Heights, Rancho Cucamonga, Rowland Heights and Huntington Park and two from Brooklyn, New York.
Plants seized: 4,382.
Pounds of processed pot: 1,021.
Feb. 2: Also in El Mirage, investigators use a search warrant to detain 12 suspects. Five men are arrested, three from the California cities of Apple Valley, Concord and Los Angeles, one from Sanford, Florida, and one from Denham Springs, Louisiana.
Plants seized: 18,854.
Jan. 27: At 9 a.m., investigators serve four warrants in the Lucerne Valley and Johnson Valley areas and arrest two unidentified men.
Plants seized: 1,905.
Pounds of processed pot: 306.5.
Jan. 13: After serving four search warrants in the Twentynine Palms area, investigators arrest three men, including two who tried to hide in a bunker. One was from Mendocino, California, and the others from Mexico.
Plants seized: 2,665.
Pounds of processed pot: 8.9.
Jan. 6: After serving a search warrant at 8:30 a.m. on Parkdale Road in Adelanto, investigators arrest seven women and four men from Adelanto along with one man from El Monte, California.
Plants seized:19,998.
Pounds of processed pot: 186.
Totals: 54,392 plants, 1,763.4 pounds of processed pot and 26 arrests.
