August 7, 2008

Sheriff’s office eradicates pot farm on Hicks Road

While marijuana farmers have been busy cultivating their rich cash crop this year, the officers that find and eradicate these farms have been busier.

In early July, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office eradicated a plot in the Saratoga foothills and, more recently, they visited Hicks Road near the Guadalupe Reservoir where they found a huge farm run by three men who live in San Jose.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, detectives from the Marijuana Eradication team cut down a garden located earlier in the year. It was located near Mount Umunhum. While securing the garden, the officers encountered a suspect tending plants. As soon as they identified themselves, he took off on foot into the surrounding brush. Detectives chased him for several hundred yards before they lost him, but they were able to put together a description of the suspect and relay it to support personnel in the area.

Shortly after the detectives had abandoned their pursuit, one of the patrol units stopped a vehicle containing a male subject who matched the description of the suspect. His two companions were in possession of items consistent with marijuana cultivation. All three were arrested for charges relating to marijuana cultivation.

The detectives took out about 5,300 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of about $15.9 million, based on a value of $3,000 per mature plant.

The suspects are identified as Miseal Martines Chavez, age 21; Felipe Relles, 23; and Antonio Morales Sanchez, age 24, all of San Jose. They were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.