Authorities arrested four people who they suspect broke into a La Grange home while heavily armed early Thursday, beating the resident and stealing marijuana plants, cash and other items, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department reported Friday. No shots were fired. The home-invasion robbery occurred at a home in the 2500 block of Alameda Drive, west of Merced Falls Road, said Sgt. Jeff Wilson, a sheriff’s spokesman. Shortly before 1 a.m., sheriff’s officials received a call from Modesto police about the robbery, Rosalio Ahumada reports in the Modesto Bee. Daniel Carter Lutes, 42, was seriously injured [...]
Narcotics investigators wrapped up a three-day operation Thursday in Tuolumne County, seizing more than 121,000 marijuana plants in 18 outdoor growing operations, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department reported. The Tuolumne Narcotics Team used aircraft to spot the marijuana gardens in rural areas of Groveland, Tuolumne and Beardsley, the Modesto Bee reports. No suspects were arrested during this latest operation. Marijuana eradication efforts usually continue into late October and early November. This year the narcotics team, with help from state and federal officials, has seized more than 365,000 marijuana plants in Tuolumne County with an estimated [...]
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A record 223,555 marijuana plants worth nearly a half-billion dollars were pulled from 20 Tuolumne County pot plantations in the past two weeks by a team of local, state and federal officers. The street value is estimated at $447 million based on each plant yielding a pound of marijuana valued at $2,000 a pound, according to Sgt. Jeff Wilson of the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department. Wilson said Friday it was by far the largest haul in county history. He couldn’t pinpoint the next highest total, but a 2007 operation yielded 26,000 plants. Over the past [...]
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