LEBEC — Three men were arrested after local law enforcement raided an illegal marijuana farm in a rural area of south Kern County on Wednesday.
Agripino Medrano Jr., 33, of Bakersfield, along with 36-year-old Carlos Ortiz and 23-year-old Pablo Gomez, both from Michoacan, Mexico, were all booked into the Kern County Jail for conspiracy and marijuana cultivation. Medrano was also booked for being under the influence of methamphetamine and driving on a suspended license.
According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the illegal grow site, which was located in a secluded location just off of Edmontson Pumping Plant Road near Lebec, was originally spotted by a sheriff’s helicopter.
The sheriff’s Major Violator Unit was called in, and while conducting surveillance in the area on Tuesday, May 27, stopped a suspicious van occupied by Medrano Jr., Ortiz and Gomez, which deputies said they saw leaving the area near the farm.
During a search of the van, deputies said they found evidence, leading them to believe that Ortiz and Gomez had been working the marijuana farm and Medrano had driven to the area to pick them up and transport them back to nearby Bakersfield.
On Wednesday, May 28, deputies conducted a raid of the farm, where they located and destroyed 1,283 marijuana plants .
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