Hollister
– Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team agents raided a local home
Friday, confiscating 129 pot plants in a backyard growing operation
and several firearms.
Hollister – Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team agents raided a local home Friday, confiscating 129 pot plants in a backyard growing operation and several firearms.
Agents served a search warrant on the home in the 2600 block of San Juan-Hollister Road Friday morning, UNET Cmdr. Mark Colla said. Although no one was home at the time of the search, Colla said the residents, a young Hollister couple, could face a litany of felony charges for marijuana possession and cultivation.
Agents discovered the plants, ranging from two to six feet tall, growing in the backyard of the home. Colla said the plants would have produced about $12,900 worth of marijuana. Agents also found several paper grocery bags and plastic zipper bags containing about five pounds of dried marijuana in the kitchen and master bedroom of the home, Colla said. Hanging above the headboard of the bed in the room, agents found a loaded 12-gauge shotgun. Colla said the gun was found in close proximity to some of the dried marijuana and a baby’s crib. A loaded .22-caliber rifle was found near the back door of the home along with a bulletproof vest, Colla said.
Since the residents were not arrested and have not been formally charged with a crime by the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office, the Free Lance has withheld their names.
Colla said a female resident came home during the UNET search and told agents she and a male adult living in the home both had expired medical marijuana cards. She also told agents they had been selling the marijuana to “make ends meet” after some financial setbacks, Colla said.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of people trying to hide behind these cards,” Colla said. “These cards are a doctor’s recommendation, they don’t give the card holder carte blanche to grow and sell marijuana.”
Colla said UNET had filed a formal complaint against the couple, including felony charges of child endangerment, possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana, possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.
San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield said he would review the UNET complaint and file formal charges before the couple was arraigned. An arraignment hearing has yet to scheduled, but could happen this week, Sarsfield said.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 332 or [email protected].
