Written by Associated Press
ALTURAS, Calif. (AP) – Federal agents seized at least 12,000
marijuana plants on Wednesday from land in far Northern California that
belongs to two federally recognized Indian tribes, the U.S. attorney’s
office in Sacramento said.
The plants and over 100 pounds of
processed pot were found while the agents were carrying out search
warrants for the properties governed by the Alturas Indian Rancheria and
Pit River tribes in Modoc County, Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, said.
An application
in support of the search signed by an agent for the Bureau of Indian
Affairs alleges that the chairman and vice-chairman of the Alturas
Rancheria, a tiny tribe with just five members and 20 acres of land,
told Modoc County’s sheriff in March that they planned to start growing
medical marijuana near a casino the tribe operates. Pot is only legal for medical purposes in California.
The Department of Justice announced in December that Indian tribes may grow and sell marijuana if they follow the
same public safety and non-diversion policies required of states that
have legalized the drug for medical or recreational use. Since then,
some of the nation’s 566 recognized tribes have been weighing the
potential economic benefits of getting into the cannabis business.
But
the amount of marijuana that was being cultivated inside the Alturas
Rancheria Event Center and in at least 40 greenhouses on Pit River tribe
land nearby suggested that neither the federal conditions nor the terms of California’s medical marijuana laws were being met, according to federal prosecutors and the agent’s affidavit.
“The investigation of the cultivation facilities searched today indicates
that both are commercial marijuana cultivation projects operated with
the intent to transport large quantities of marijuana off tribal lands
for distribution at various locations yet to be identified by the
tribes,” Wagner’s office said in a statement. “These facts raise
multiple federal enforcement concerns, including the diversion of
marijuana to places where it is not authorized.”
No one has been arrested and no charges are pending in the case, which still is under investigation, Horwood said.
John
Peebles, a Sacramento lawyer who specializes in tribal sovereignty and
was identified in the affidavit as having presented the original
cultivation proposal to the sheriff and Modoc County lawmakers, did not
respond to a telephone call and
email seeking comment. The leaders whom the Bureau of Indian Affairs
lists as the chairmen of the two tribes also could not be reached.
The
agent’s search warrant application alleges that the project was being
financed by Grand River Enterprises chief executive officer Jerry
Montour, a native Mohawk and prominent cigarette manufacturer in Canada
who has tangled with federal and state authorities in the U.S. over
sales of his products on this side of the border.
Montour’s
business voicemail was not accepting messages on Tuesday and a call to a
lawyer who has represented him was not returned.
Federal
authorities were asked to investigate the marijuana growing project by
the sister of the Alturas Rancheria chairman, according to the agent’s
affidavit. Wendy Del Rosa and her brother, Phillip Del Rosa, have been
fighting over control of the tribe since 2012, The Sacramento Bee
reported earlier this year.
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