SirBlazinBowl
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A state Fish and Game warden was shot in both legs and a man was killed Friday during an early morning raid on a huge marijuana garden near Mount Umunhum in a rugged, remote area of Santa Clara County. The incident came a day after Santa Cruz County authorities stamped out one of the most sophisticated pot-growing operations they have ever seen.
Both operations had the hallmarks of aggressive Mexican drug cartels, which in recent years have cornered California's marijuana-growing market, state drug agents say.
``It's scary,'' Bob Cooke, special agent in charge of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement in San Jose, said of the new trend. ``Once you hit the ground, they are dressed in camouflage and hide in tunnels and scurry up trees and watch us from above.''
On Thursday, ``they all ran, but today they shot back,'' Cooke said Friday.
An unidentified man who authorities say had been guarding the pot farm died after being hit in an exchange of gunfire during the raid, carried out by Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies with the assistance of three wardens.
Friday night, sheriff's deputies and San Jose police officers were ``scouring the hillsides'' for his partner, a sheriff's spokesman said.
The injured Fish and Game warden was identified as Kyle Kroll, 25, of Mountain View, who has been a warden for two years. He was airlifted to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said Steve Martarano, spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game. He underwent surgery Friday afternoon and was listed in stable condition.
Armed confrontation Terrance Helm, a sheriff's spokesman, said the narcotics team was confronted by two armed men about two hours after deputies launched the raid. ``That's when the shooting began,'' he said.
Helm said he couldn't disclose specifics of the incident, such as how many shots were fired, or what led to the shooting.
Kroll was evacuated by helicopter about 10:30 a.m. The suspect, Helm said, died while sheriff's deputies waited for a SWAT team ``to secure the area.'' At the time, deputies didn't know if there were any other armed men in the area, Helm said.
The approximately 3-acre pot farm is on the eastern slope of Mount Umunhum in the 16,879-acre Sierra Azul open-space reserve, which is owned by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The place where the plants were found is closed to the public.
More than 10,000 plants, 4- to 5-feet tall, were discovered. The district staff had reportedly alerted authorities to the pot farm, which is in an area so remote that it takes about an hour to hike from the nearest road. Cooke said the growers had dug irrigation ponds and filled them with water carried in from hoses from underground springs.
Agents Friday brought back about 500 plants and two pellet rifles, but authorities said they did not believe those were the guns the suspects used in the shoot-out. They planned to work all day today to finish clearing out the plants.
In Santa Cruz County, the Marijuana Enforcement Team on Thursday confiscated 4,700 plants off a hiking trail in Big Basin Park.
Cartel suspected
Because of the intricacy and size of that operation, authorities said they suspected the garden was run by a Mexican cartel. Sheriff's deputies said on Thursday they found four camp sites arranged around a centralized cooking area amid manicured rows of pot plants.
State drug agents say the Mexican cartels have boosted both the potency of marijuana and the propensity for violence.
``Last year we had at least three shootings that I remember,'' Cooke said.
`More money involved'
``It used to be they would booby-trap the gardens and leave them unattended, or they would just run,'' Cooke said. ``Now they're becoming more confrontational because . . . it's much better dope, and there's a lot more money involved.''
Authorities say the multi-billion-dollar cartels have found it safer and more lucrative to grow marijuana in the United States than to have to smuggle it into the country. Instead, the cartels smuggle in low-paid Mexican guards, hand them rifles and shotguns, and order them to shoot anyone passing by the gardens.
``They spend all their time in the gardens and speak little or no English and are told to defend the garden whatever way they can,'' said Robin Schwanke, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
The attorney general's office estimates that about 85 percent of the pot in the state is now grown by Mexican cartels.
Martarano said Fish and Game wardens are often requested to assist in marijuana eradication raids.
Authorities have seen a dramatic jump in marijuana planting in recent years. Agents increasingly have found the crop growing in secluded public areas such as the Sequoia National Forest. The same cartels are also involved in trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Agents say pot is a seasonal business for the cartels since it's mostly grown in the summer.
Helm said more than three dozen deputies and officers from other police agencies were searching for the armed man throughout the day Friday. The search through the low brush and steep terrain was made more difficult because ridges blocked cell phone transmission and other communication. The officers lugged satellite phones to try to get around the problem.
The Mount Umunhum area has multi-million-dollar houses as well as smaller, less well-kept homes.
Authorities say such marijuana operations present a danger to people who hike through the area because they risk stumbling across marijuana plots run by armed criminals.
``It's scary for everybody,'' said Karen Sepahmansour, a nearby resident who had just returned from a hike in the same hills where officers were hunting a fugitive with a gun.
``We're calling our neighbors,'' she said, ``and telling our kids to stay in the house right now.''
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl (420Times.com)
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact: letters@mercurynews.com
Website: The Mercury News
Author: Ken McLaughlin and Brandon Bailey
Both operations had the hallmarks of aggressive Mexican drug cartels, which in recent years have cornered California's marijuana-growing market, state drug agents say.
``It's scary,'' Bob Cooke, special agent in charge of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement in San Jose, said of the new trend. ``Once you hit the ground, they are dressed in camouflage and hide in tunnels and scurry up trees and watch us from above.''
On Thursday, ``they all ran, but today they shot back,'' Cooke said Friday.
An unidentified man who authorities say had been guarding the pot farm died after being hit in an exchange of gunfire during the raid, carried out by Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies with the assistance of three wardens.
Friday night, sheriff's deputies and San Jose police officers were ``scouring the hillsides'' for his partner, a sheriff's spokesman said.
The injured Fish and Game warden was identified as Kyle Kroll, 25, of Mountain View, who has been a warden for two years. He was airlifted to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said Steve Martarano, spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game. He underwent surgery Friday afternoon and was listed in stable condition.
Armed confrontation Terrance Helm, a sheriff's spokesman, said the narcotics team was confronted by two armed men about two hours after deputies launched the raid. ``That's when the shooting began,'' he said.
Helm said he couldn't disclose specifics of the incident, such as how many shots were fired, or what led to the shooting.
Kroll was evacuated by helicopter about 10:30 a.m. The suspect, Helm said, died while sheriff's deputies waited for a SWAT team ``to secure the area.'' At the time, deputies didn't know if there were any other armed men in the area, Helm said.
The approximately 3-acre pot farm is on the eastern slope of Mount Umunhum in the 16,879-acre Sierra Azul open-space reserve, which is owned by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The place where the plants were found is closed to the public.
More than 10,000 plants, 4- to 5-feet tall, were discovered. The district staff had reportedly alerted authorities to the pot farm, which is in an area so remote that it takes about an hour to hike from the nearest road. Cooke said the growers had dug irrigation ponds and filled them with water carried in from hoses from underground springs.
Agents Friday brought back about 500 plants and two pellet rifles, but authorities said they did not believe those were the guns the suspects used in the shoot-out. They planned to work all day today to finish clearing out the plants.
In Santa Cruz County, the Marijuana Enforcement Team on Thursday confiscated 4,700 plants off a hiking trail in Big Basin Park.
Cartel suspected
Because of the intricacy and size of that operation, authorities said they suspected the garden was run by a Mexican cartel. Sheriff's deputies said on Thursday they found four camp sites arranged around a centralized cooking area amid manicured rows of pot plants.
State drug agents say the Mexican cartels have boosted both the potency of marijuana and the propensity for violence.
``Last year we had at least three shootings that I remember,'' Cooke said.
`More money involved'
``It used to be they would booby-trap the gardens and leave them unattended, or they would just run,'' Cooke said. ``Now they're becoming more confrontational because . . . it's much better dope, and there's a lot more money involved.''
Authorities say the multi-billion-dollar cartels have found it safer and more lucrative to grow marijuana in the United States than to have to smuggle it into the country. Instead, the cartels smuggle in low-paid Mexican guards, hand them rifles and shotguns, and order them to shoot anyone passing by the gardens.
``They spend all their time in the gardens and speak little or no English and are told to defend the garden whatever way they can,'' said Robin Schwanke, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
The attorney general's office estimates that about 85 percent of the pot in the state is now grown by Mexican cartels.
Martarano said Fish and Game wardens are often requested to assist in marijuana eradication raids.
Authorities have seen a dramatic jump in marijuana planting in recent years. Agents increasingly have found the crop growing in secluded public areas such as the Sequoia National Forest. The same cartels are also involved in trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Agents say pot is a seasonal business for the cartels since it's mostly grown in the summer.
Helm said more than three dozen deputies and officers from other police agencies were searching for the armed man throughout the day Friday. The search through the low brush and steep terrain was made more difficult because ridges blocked cell phone transmission and other communication. The officers lugged satellite phones to try to get around the problem.
The Mount Umunhum area has multi-million-dollar houses as well as smaller, less well-kept homes.
Authorities say such marijuana operations present a danger to people who hike through the area because they risk stumbling across marijuana plots run by armed criminals.
``It's scary for everybody,'' said Karen Sepahmansour, a nearby resident who had just returned from a hike in the same hills where officers were hunting a fugitive with a gun.
``We're calling our neighbors,'' she said, ``and telling our kids to stay in the house right now.''
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl (420Times.com)
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact: letters@mercurynews.com
Website: The Mercury News
Author: Ken McLaughlin and Brandon Bailey
