Gilroy – South County’s marijuana eradication units are preparing for a busy growing season. An unusually wet winter pushed back the planting of pot seedlings and will make it easier for growers to access water sources, police said.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office’s Marijuana Suppression Team seized more than 82,000 marijuana plants in the county last year, including a bust off of Whitehurst Road where two Gilroy brothers were arrested while guarding the 300 plant farm.
“Now is the time when people are out there planting,” said Sgt. Joseph Waldherr. “This year, with all the rain, the marijuana is going to have a better water source, so we’re thinking it’s going to be a concern.”
The growing season typically runs from the spring to late summer and while plants are not yet visible – evidence of planting will be.
According to Waldherr, individuals may notice traffic in quiet areas, the presence of irrigation tools, trespassers wearing camouflage, or even drops in water pressure – hints that someone may be tapped into the water supply.
“What they do is bring in fertilizers and rat pesticides and with the run off it gets into tributaries and creeks and into the water supply,” he said, explaining how marijuana farms damage the environment.
Members of the Sheriff’s special operations group network with area farmers, PG&E workers, hunters, and ranchers teaching them safety practices so that when individuals spot marijuana plants they know who to call.
Each plant harvested may yield $4,000 worth of pot, authorities estimated.
Last year, the Department of Justice’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) program seized 1,134,692 plants statewide during eradication season – more than double what they discovered in 2004. Most of the plants seized were located on public land including state and national parks.
In September, Gilroy brothers Jose and Baltizar Chavez were arrested by the Marijuana Suppression Team while guarding a marijuana farm one mile from residences near Whitehurst Road and Hecker Pass Highway. The two were both carrying .22-caliber firearms.
“It’s very dangerous,” said Special Agent in Charge Bob Cooke of the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in San Jose. “You don’t know what you’re going to stumble into.”
Those who stumble upon a crop of marijuana plants should find trails leading away from the grow area and immediately call 911, law enforcement officials urged.
“It’s a huge cash crop,” Cooke said. “They don’t want to lose their cash crops.”
The CAMP program, which consists of multiple state, federal and local law enforcement agencies, eradicated an estimated $4.5 billion in pot last year. And recently growers have taken a violent stance against being found.
“They never used to exchange fire with police. That’s all changed,” Cooke said, citing the shooting of a Fish and Game warden during a raid on a pot farm last August in the mountains outside Los Gatos. “We’ve changed our tactics.”
According to Cooke, most of the time the individuals guarding the marijuana gardens are not the owners of the plants and have been ordered to defend the grow at all costs.
The marijuana farmers are not just small timers – law enforcement officials believe they are connected with methamphetamine and cocaine distribution throughout the state as well.
“These are not just guys who work four months out of the year,” he said. “These guys have something going on throughout the year.”
