Man arrested near Covelo at nearly 10,000-plant illegal cannabis grow

MENDOCINO CO., 7/24/26 — Sheriff’s deputies serving a search warrant at an illegal cannabis grow this week near Covelo arrested one armed man and found nearly 10,000 marijuana plants and the banned pesticide carbofuran, while a second armed man fled with what the sheriff described as a modified assault rifle, Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall said.

Deputies encountered the two men as they served the warrant, Kendall said in a statement posted Thursday to the sheriff’s office Facebook page. One ran and eluded capture. The second, also armed, was taken into custody without injury although deputies “had to work hard to convince him to give up peacefully,” the sheriff wrote.