Thousands of pounds of illegal marijuana and more than 150,000 plants were found in Lassen County as part of a months-long, multi-agency operation.
In June, the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office and Lassen County Code Enforcement began an investigation into the illegal cultivation of marijuana occurring in northern Lassen County.
Sheriff's Office personnel flew over several suspected cultivation sites and determined that marijuana was actively being grown, according to a Facebook post from the LCSO.
None of the grows found were licensed by the state of California or Lassen County.
From August 17 to 21 and September 7 to 11, Sheriff's Office personnel, alongside representatives from the California Department of Justice – Eradication & Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) executed search warrants on 47 separate parcels.
In serving the warrants, around 151,177 marijuana plants and 19,973.27 pounds of processed marijuana were found.
11 guns were taken from cultivation sites during the operations.
Authorities also found thousands of pounds of garbage and dangerous pesticides.
Many of the sites were found to be diverting and polluting water from nearby streams.
The owners of record for the properties will be taxed based on the size of each grow.
Detectives continue to seek those responsible for the illegal grows so they can be brought to justice.
