Tulare County pot bust lands 21 people behind bars

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Twenty-one people are now in jail after a large scale illegal marijuana bust in south Tulare County. Officials began investigating the crimes after getting numerous complaints from the public.

On Monday, the Tulare County Sheriff's Office displayed some of the evidence from several widespread search warrants in Terra Bella. Bullets that can penetrate bulletproof vests, more than 80 pounds of processed marijuana, meth, prescription drugs, 33 guns and a bulletproof vest are some of what they seized.

"Well over 4,000 plants and, again, with these marijuana plants, they're not your small tomato-sized plants; these are orange tree-sized plants," said Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux.

Boudreaux says some of the suspects were operating under the guise of a legal medical marijuana card but selling and making a profit from the pot and harnessing illegal guns to protect themselves.

Officials got wind of the crimes from people living in the community of Terra Bella. They even complained to the Board of Supervisors.

"People coming and going at all times of the night and strictly the public safety end of it, and then of course the odors that this product puts off is pretty annoying to people at night," said Tulare County Supervisor Mike Ennis.

Officials say what's worse is that the suspects were growing a thirsty plant in an area that's been hit especially hard by the drought. Terra Bella Irrigation District has dealt with zero water allocation from the Friant Water Authority, creating increased fire hazards and forcing farmers to bulldoze hundreds of acres of crops.

"If we have 4,000 plants at say five gallons you'd have 25,000 gallons of water per day that's being used and affecting our aquifers," said Boudreaux.

"To drive around and see the orange groves you know that are dying because we don't have water, and then to see these people wasting it, as far as I'm concerned trying to grow this illegal marijuana is a travesty," said Ennis.

Sheriff's investigators say most of the suspects are not connected to each other. They're facing a slew of weapons and drug charges.