Global Ganja Report

Fear is growing in Northern California's cannabis hub of Humboldt County over a wave of busts and home break-ins. The Sheriff's Office is searching for four unidentified male suspects after a report of a home invasion robbery in Salmon Creek Feb. 9. Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the residence before 6 AM after a 911 call from the residence reporting that four men with ski-masks and shotguns had forced entry, tied up the caller and his wife, and made off with 30 pounds of cannabis and more than $3,000. Held for about an hour as the assailants searched the premises, the caller managed to free himself after they fled. (Eureka Times-Standard, Feb. 9)

That same week, Humboldt Sheriff's Deputies arrested three men during a two-day stakeout of the Humboldt Sanitation company in McKinleyville, after complaints from management that people were entering the facility and removing recyclables, discarded cannabis trimmings and other items after business hours. The three were arrested on trespassing, petty theft, and possession of cannabis, methamphetamine, hypodermic syringes and a other charges. (Times-Standard, Feb. 9)

In a move that raised eyebrows among local residents, last month the accused head of a cannabis cultivation operation near Bridgeville was sentenced to serve 1,000 hours of community service and forfeit almost $40,000 in cash under the terms of a plea agreement. Thomas William Morgan, a naturalized US citizen from Bulgaria also known as Taco Nikolov Budnakov, was arrested Oct. 19 and charged with cultivation and possession of cannabis for sales after the Sheriff's Office reported finding 190 pounds of dried cannabis, more than 60 pounds of processed buds, a handgun and the cash at his Bridgeville property. Morgan pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maintaining a residence for the purpose of marijuana cultivation in exchange for not doing any prison time. In a statement, Humboldt District Attorney Paul Gallegos defended the deal: "The way I look at it is people who broke the law but are not dangerous shouldn't be sitting in jail at county expense, they should be out in the street doing work. There's plenty of need and plenty of work to do."  (Times-Standard, Jan. 14)

But many are outraged that Budnakov's four trimmers—three Bulgarians and a Ukrainian—spent almost two months in jail before they were allowed to plead "no contest" to misdemeanor charges of being an accessory to a crime, receiving time served (54 days). Five others—from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Germany and Thailand—are awaiting deals. Budnakov himself was released on $75,000 bail, and only served two days. (Times-Standard, Dec. 13)

While looking to arrest the landowners associated with a massive outdoor growing operation busted in October near Mad River, police on Dec. 20 uncovered an entire McKinleyville apartment complex rigged for growing cannabis. The October bust lead to the seizure of almost 2,000 live plants, more than 1,500 pounds of harvested cannabis, and over 40 arrests—all but one trimmers. The one exception, Meghan Moody, was released on bail and has not been formally charged. Executing search warrants on the owners of the Mad River property led to discovery of the mega-scale indoor grow op in McKinleyville. No actual growing plants were found at the  McKinleyville, indicating the grow op was not yet functioning. (Times-Standard, Dec. 20)