Press Release from Humboldt CO. Sheriff’s Dept. in reference to an earlier bust.

On 07-01-2011 both suspects in this case pled guilty in Humboldt County Superior Court for cultivation of marijuana and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Both Hernandez and Valencia-Baez will serve 2 years- four months in state prison. Both subjects will be deported back to Mexico after their prison sentence is complete.

On 06-17-2011 at about 0630 hours Humboldt County Sheriff Deputies covertly went into an outdoor marijuana garden site located about 3 miles east of Bridgeville towards Showers Pass. Deputies located a campsite and a tent in the middle of the marijuana garden. Deputies then surrounded the tent and arrested two subjects, who were sleeping in the tent. Deputies  located a loaded .22 caliber rifle in the tent where the two subjects were sleeping.

Deputies identified the two subjects as Miguel Don Juan Herandez age 29 and Jose Maria Valencia-Baez age 26. Both subjects are from Mexico and are in the Country illegally. Both subjects were transported to the Humboldt County Jail where they were booked for cultivation and possession for sales of marijuana along with being armed in the commission of a felony. Both subjects had an immigration hold placed on them.

Deputies seized 5,495 plants from the property. The marijuana plants ranged in size from 8 inches to 2 feet in height.