Photo: Robert Hill
June 2, 2021 – Ventura County, Ca.
It is apparently assumed by many of those with a knack for agriculture that California’s recentrelaxation of the laws surrounding marijuana cultivation and use that the demand for cannabis is such that all one has to do is get hold of some seeds, stick them in some rich, loamy soil, and wait for the cash to roll in.
confiscated drugs, guns
The May 28th arrest of 48-year-old Ventura resident Robert Hill, however, belies that assumption. According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Odilon Malagon, it was around 10:00 AM that day when VCSD Narcotics Street Team detectives acted upon “received information” that Hill was actively involved in the cultivation of marijuana plants in the City of Camarillo.
Detectives were granted a search warrant targeting “Hill’s person, his vehicles, and two residences” in the area under investigation. The cops presented Hill with their warrant on the 28th and discovered a plethora of evidence indicating that he was acting in disregard of the impact presented by illegal and unregulated marijuana cultivation wherein banned pesticides and fertilizers are frequently used, presenting potential “health problems for humans or wild animals” as they contaminate soils.
As the cops searched Hill’s two residences, they discovered “two separate marijuana cultivation operations” and seized 80 marijuana plants, 26 pounds of dried marijuana, “steroids, 52 suboxone strips, ecstacy pills, psylocibin mushrooms, several hundred rounds of ammunition, two handguns, a short-barreled assault rifle, and several thousand dollars in suspected drug proceeds.”
Hill was taken into custody and transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on “various narcotics and weapons-related violations,” with no allegation as to how the firearms were used in the propagation or nurturing of the marijuana plants.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking, VCSD Narcotics Street Team
