Merced County sheriff’s deputies early Monday interrupted what they believe was a marijuana burglary in-progress at a Winton home loaded with giant marijuana plants.
Deputies responded to a home on Vine Street in Winton about 1:30 a.m. after receiving a call reporting multiple suspicious vehicles and men with flashlights walking around the property, Sgt. Ray Framstad said.
The home is known to deputies and, in the past, has been subleased and used to grow marijuana, Framstad said.
When deputies arrived at the home, two men ran away. Deputies caught one of them but said he was combative and eventually was stunned with a Taser. Deputies said he was armed with a gun.
The man, later identified as Jose Octavio Sanchez, 28, was booked into Merced County Jail, where he remained Tuesday on $22,500 bail.
In Merced County, local ordinances allow residents to grow 12 outdoor marijuana plants with a medical marijuana license.
For those who grow marijuana, Framstad urged residents to report burglaries and home invasions to law enforcement.
“If people choose to grow marijuana and are victims of theft, we’ll respond like any other property theft,” he said. “Please don’t confront the thieves because subjects who are looking for grows are armed a lot of times.”
Last week, the Merced County Board of Supervisors took steps to repeal its current medical marijuana ordinance. If supervisors move forward on the repeal, growing marijuana outside would be banned but officials would look to allow deliveries. The county would rely on Prop 64, which allows residents to grow marijuana indoors for recreation purposes.
Sheriff Vern Warnke has supported banning outdoor cultivation, saying it attracts violence to the county.
Framstad said indoor marijuana plants are easier to conceal and attract less violence, especially when harvest season ramps up in the fall.
“The subjects who are looking for these grows know the value of marijuana,” he said. “Outdoor grows are easily identified, and it’s not hard to find residences to target. Now that we’re closer to harvest season, we’re going to see more violence.”
credit:fresnobee.com
