A Mass. man is facing charges in California after authorities found a marijuana grow operation on his property
Michael Smith, 35, was arrested last week during a drug bust approximately 100 miles north of Sacramento.
A Massachusetts man is facing drug charges in California after authorities there alleged he was involved in an illicit marijuana growing operation.
Michael Smith, 35, was arrested on Sept. 17 in Berry Creek, California, as the Butte County Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Unit searched a property where an earlier flyover revealed there was an illegal commercial marijuana growing operation, according to a press release published Saturday.
Smith, who was taken into custody on $50,000 bail, was charged with felony maintaining a residence for the purpose of drug sales, felony cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, and also possession of brass knuckles, authorities said.
As a police caravan drove into the 2690 block of Bean Creek Road last week, Smith was driving a Toyota truck that was leaving the property before he turned around and followed the vehicles to the site, officials said.
Smith was then detained while officers served a search warrant.
While on the property, police found processed marijuana packaged for sale inside both a residence and a vehicle, as well as three “self-made AR-15 rifles, all illegal in California along with numerous rounds of ammunition and other firearms,” the press release said.
Butte County Sheriff’s Office
Butte County Sheriff’s Office
Authorities also discovered a travel trailer that was being used by a drug trafficking organization that had rented the property from Berry Creek resident Mark De La Gardie, 59, to cultivate marijuana, officials said.
A second grow site maintained by the organization was found on a property Smith owns, according to the release.
“Water was illegally being drafted from a nearby creek and stored in an above ground swimming pool to be used on the marijuana plants,” the release from the sheriff’s office said.
Butte County Sheriff’s Office
During the search of the site, two other men eluded authorities and fled into the woods with a handgun, officials said.
De La Gardie, 59, of Berry Creek, was arrested at the scene on a variety of drug and firearms charges, authorities said. He was booked and held on $150,000 bail.
A third man, Calvin Merrill, 46, of Fair Oaks, California, was cited as the special enforcement unit officers were leaving the property and saw him in a vehicle traveling on Bean Creek Road.
Authorities found three pounds of marijuana in turkey oven bags after they searched Merrill’s vehicle, the press release said. He was cited for the transportation of marijuana for sale and for driving on a suspended license due to driving under the influence.
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