MENDOCINO CO., 7/27/26 — Authorities in Mendocino County busted several illegal cannabis grows this month and found evidence of forced labor abuses, the Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Between July 1 and Friday, deputies with the Lake and Mendocino county sheriff’s offices served multiple search warrants at unlicensed cannabis cultivation sites in the Covelo, Laytonville, Potter Valley and Redwood Valley areas. The operation hit over 30 sites, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators located and documented numerous water diversions and extremely dangerous pesticides in proximity to local waterways and sensitive habitat areas, the Sheriff’s Office said. Law enforcement officials also found evidence of pesticides being used that are banned in the U.S., specifically foreign-language labeled containers which are prohibited; these pesticides created serious concerns for residents, wildlife, and downstream natural resources.
Authorities also made contact with people they suspected were victims of forced labor trafficking after finding poor, overcrowded conditions; limited freedom of movement, deceptive recruitment, lack of identifying documents, little to no meaningful pay, and exposure to hazardous chemicals and unsafe working conditions.
“These conditions are consistent with publicly documented patterns of labor exploitation associated with illegal marijuana grows, particularly in remote locations where vulnerable workers may be isolated, controlled, or threatened,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Law enforcement eradicated approximately 173,244 marijuana plants, seized 10,369 pounds of processed marijuana intended for sales, made numerous arrests, located and seized 626 ounces of illegal pesticides and seized 26 firearms, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Cases against suspected illegal operators are being forwarded to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
Sheriff Kendall, it’s time to think out of the box. I know your hands are tied due to the California value act. SB54.in Which makes it illegal for you To even ask somebody if they are a u s citizen or illegal alien? It is obvious to any one who lives in northern Mendocino County that a vast majority of the large illegal grows are run by foreign national cartels, often with slave labor.But there is a loophole in SB54 Which allows local law enforcement to work with federal agents and most important ice Under SB54, if there is a joint law enforcement task force Ice can work with local law. Enforcement. As long as the main purpose of the task force is not immigration. These large cartel grows do major environmental damage to our watersheds and local wildlife. You could easily bring in federal game wardens. Due to the fact that many of their pesticides and anticoagulant rat poisons that are killing endangered species, you could also bring in the EPA.in on the clean water act ,Due to the fact, the water diversion Is having a major effect on water quality and endangered species such as salmon and steel head. With them helping you on the raids, then you can bring in ice it’s time to think out of the box, we need ice here. Catching releasing cartel growers is a joke. They go right back to regrowing, a lot of this is going on on tribal land in Round Valley bring in the bureau of indian affairs law enforcement..They’re federal.They can work with ice too
Sheriff Kendall Round Valley is where you grew up. It’s time you cleaned it up.
Sheriff Kendall, it’s time to make northern Mendocino safe again. Use the loopholes that I have just mentioned. You will take heat from the leftist politicians you’re on your last term, anyhow as sheriff You’re most likely.Are you going to retire?So Take the political heat and retire with your head up high.Knowing you did a good job or you can hide from this problem.And pass the buck, and then people will think, is it lead or gold?
You are very naive if you think the people setting these things up are the same ones working there. Do you think the people actually working at these grow sites, living in appalling conditions like slaves, are also the bosses? Think about how any organized crime operation works. The guys running the show keep their hands as clean as possible. You could deport every single one of the workers, and the bosses would EASILY find twice as many replacements. With drones, we can now find and surveil these sites easily and for little cost compared to flying a helicopter around. The only way to stop this activity is to make it unprofitable.
Be brought down low and receive these blessings Kendall. May they heap overflowing from the top of your head. GOD BLESS 💜✝️👑💜 AMEN cuz AMEN. Sincerely S.S.
Reply to remove the Queen. Yes, you probably won’t catch the upper. Ups or the cartels in Covello, but you will catch their lieutenants and their workers, and they all need to be deported if they are illegal aliens. And if they do have american citizenship , the mendocino county district attorney needs to throw the book. At them. these aren’t old hippies growing a few plants in the hills. These are hardened cartel criminals. They can Find most these illegal operations using satellites or drones. Or just driving down the road, but they need to get a picture of the gardens for the warrant. That’s why they fly helicopters, the warrant has to have a recent picture of the operation. You hit them hard enough. They move on, we’ve seen this work in other areas, but I guess you don’t care about our wildlife, our fisheries or our water quality, you you are weak. The cartel loves weak people like you. That’s why they get away with what they get away with.
What about the cash? Where did the cash go (ahem)?
Get a load of this guy, thinking there’s money in pot! 🤡
The sheriff’s office isn’t going to get a single case prosecuted or property seized.. his commet team leader is so unprofessional and rude! Sheriff didn’t mention the legal grows his people raided as well and were not even apologetic. Also they didn’t seize the chemicals that are so bad, that’s a lie. They left it right there on the property go look for yourself. fish and game has always helped out so environmental crimes could actually be addressed. Why aren’t they involved now? That’s the most important part of it all. Bet theres a story there too.
Someone is trolling here.\nWhy would mendocino voice allow someone to use my pen name dead dog, they have to be using a different email. This is this will confuse people the real dead dog
Kendall Straight Dorkus Morkus
So it looks as if D1 and D3 who love cannabis prohibition are again being heavily subsidized in the enforcement arena by the districts that just don’t have the same issues. But D1 just can’t get behind a road tax that they think won’t benefit them enough to justify the money. The freeloading Madeline Cline can’t even agree to put the road tax on the ballot, probably because she knows it would pass. If it passed then her constituents would be mad that she let a democratic process take place that didn’t necessarily benefit them as much as others. Never mind that all of us across the county use all of the roads across every district when we drive around doing our chores, errands, visits etc. we would all generally benefit from better roads no matter is it’s the one in front of our house. But no, we have to give up on a ballot measure and subsidize Cline’s Karens at at the RVMAC. Great job D1.
Kansas, Idaho and Wyoming are fully illegal states. But people still smoke it there. The cartels are not selling to local dispensaries. They’re selling to illegal states, where people still get weed from shady dealers. I agree that weed needs to be made unprofitable, by making it fully legal nationally. Only then will the cartels stop growing and public health get involved. If you attend the Marijuana-anonymous.org Kansas chapter meetings online you will hear the stories of how expensive weed is in Kansas. Kansas needs to grow their own, or import it legally from California. Otherwise they’re sanctioning the crimes here.