2 Marijuana Gardens In Tuolumne County Have Been Eradicated

Sonora, CA — The Tuolumne County Sheriff´s Department is adding to the number of Marijuana Gardens eradicated this week with the discovery of 2,500 plants.

Investigators from the Sheriff´s Department´s Narcotics Team assisted by agents from the U.S. Forest Service, eradicated the marijuana plants from two remote areas of Tuolumne County.

The gardens were located on public lands in the Marble Mountain and Basin Creek areas. Investigators say the areas where the growers were camping were left littered with trash, tools, shotgun and handgun ammunition, hundreds of pounds of food, and remnants of a bear they had hunted and killed.

Both sites were abandoned leaving plants very well developed, and ranged in size from 3 to 8 feet tall. Investigators and agents located the grows based on information received from various sources.

Investigators say besides the damage these growers do to the environment with all the trash and used equipment they leave behind, the areas of these gardens are extremely dangerous to anyone that happens through the area. The growers use weapons to defend their gardens and are known to set up various forms of booby traps to keep people out.

This weeks´ efforts are part of an ongoing program to uproot as many plants and gardens as possible from public lands. For this season to date, which began July 1, Tuolumne Narcotics Team investigators have eradicated approximately 33,000 plants. If anyone has any information on where additional gardens might be found, please contact the Tuolumne Narcotics Team at 694-2950.