PREVIOUSLY:
###
A McKinleyville man accused of operating a multi-site marijuana business and damaging the environment has been charged with a long list of violations and is scheduled for arraignment next month.
Brett Visser, 58, and co-defendant Anne Clarke, 32, are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 5 on conspiracy and various marijuana-related charges. Visser also is charged with possessing money from marijuana sales, possession of a controlled substance, placing hazardous material near a stream, water pollution and diverting a stream.
In a separate civil case, the District Attorney’s Office is seeking to confiscate nearly $80,000 from the two. According to court records, $72,664 belonged to Visser and $6,586 to Clarke. Today Judge Timothy Cissna ordered that the civil case be set to coincide with the criminal proceedings.
Both Visser and Clarke are out of custody and were not in court today.
The pair were arrested in June after the county’s Sheriff’s Department and Drug Task force served search warrants on two of Visser’s rural properties, plus his McKinleyville home and another nearby residence.
At two adjacent properties in the Mosquito Creek area, officers discovered dozens of greenhouses and seized more than 21,000 marijuana plants and nearly 400 pounds of processed weed.
Visser reportedly had filed for a permit to grow legally, but the permit had been suspended because he hadn’t supplied all the necessary information.
On the same properties, state Fish and Wildlife investigators discovered six stream diversions and three potential water-pollution sites. Diesel fuel was reportedly being stored near streams.
At Visser’s home on Visser Court in McKinleyville, officers seized 367 pounds of marijuana packaged in 1-pound bags, 255 Xanax pills, and the disputed cash. They arrested him and Clarke at that time.
And at a nearby parcel on Visser Court, 700 marijauna plants were found growing in two separate buildings. Visser allegedly had no permit for those grows.
Deputy District Attorney Adrian Kamada represented the prosecution today in Cissna’s courtroom. Visser has reportedly hired Eureka attorney Patrik Griego to represent him.