Property Owner Called Riverside County Officials To Complain About The Incident

A helicopter bearing armed men descended on a pot-growing operation near Temecula, CA last month that sparked a call to Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries from the land owner turned out to be a DEA raid.

Jeffries has recently spoken out about the growing number of outdoor pot-growing operations in the county run by drug trafficking organizations, and has proposed an ordinance to curtail them.

In this instance, the woman who owns the property called Jeffries' office to complain about the seizure of the plants from the person to whom she had leased the land for growing marijuana. That person told the property owner that armed men in a helicopter landed, handcuffed him, and took the plants. They were from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, not Riverside County.

DEA Spokeswoman Amy Roderick said the man was detained for safety reasons while the plants were cut down and carried away in a sling. He was later released, and no charges have been filed.

It is not known why that particular property was targeted. Roderick would only say that the case is "under investigation."

The California chapter of NORML says on its website that only those with a prescription for medical marijuana or their primary caregivers may legally grow the plant in the state.

FMI: www.justice.gov/dea