Probably estimated the street value of the product. Id be surprised if any cash was kept around illegal grows
That was a direct quote from SBC sheriff Shannon Dicus at the press conference.
Since the article also addresses the 74,000 pounds of marijuana seized, it seems to imply this was cash seized over the last year. Good for the State of California as they get to keep that money. But also just stunning when you realize that is likely just a drop in the bucket of what is out there.
Growers at illegal sites can avoid the expensive licensing fees and regulatory costs associated with legal farms. Violence is a looming threat at these operations, authorities said, because illicit harvests yield huge quantities of cash to operators who can’t use banks or law enforcement for protection.
www.latimes.com
sbcountyda.org
apnews.com
5 suspects charged with murder in Southern California desert killings in dispute over marijuana
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors filed murder charges Tuesday against five suspects in the fatal shootings of six men at a remote dirt crossroads in the Southern California desert after what investigators said was a dispute over marijuana.
www.shouselaw.com
Not users…. It should be growers or cultivators.
To me, $370M just doesn't make any sense. When they had one just a few years ago just west in LA County, they only found about $30k in cash in a bust with with over 300k plants and more than 30k tons of marijuana.Growers at illegal sites can avoid the expensive licensing fees and regulatory costs associated with legal farms. Violence is a looming threat at these operations, authorities said, because illicit harvests yield huge quantities of cash to operators who can’t use banks or law enforcement for protection.
A massacre that killed 6 reveals the treacherous world of illegal pot in SoCal deserts
Six people were shot to death last week in a desert community in San Bernardino County. The proliferation of illegal marijuana grows across California in recent years is leading to increasing violence, experts say.
To me, $370M just doesn't make any sense. When they had one just a few years ago just west in LA County, they only found about $30k in cash in a bust with with over 300k plants and more than 30k tons of marijuana.
Sheriff's Operation Hammer Strike eradicates over 1,000 cannabis greenhouses throughout county
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Marijuana Enforcement Team continues the eradication of illegal marijuana cultivation sites throughout the county.www.vvdailypress.com
This is an operation they ran from 2021 to 2022 and only ended up with $1.6M in cash found. How was there that huge of a leap in money found in a year? $370M found during 411 search warrants is right around $900k average per location compared to $1.6M and 127 warrants for an average of $12.6k per location. Either someone was extremely stupid and the sheriff's department was extremely lucky in finding that much cash or that number isn't right.
www.politico.com
Thanks for correcting my mistake, not sure why I put tons instead of pounds.BBM: There's a bunch of numbers not right but that 30k tons is 60 MILLION lbs or almost a billion ounces. The entire legal market for CA is only about 5 Billion $$$ or at average retail $160/ounce about 31 million ounces. Granted standing marijuana weighs much more than ready-for-sale but there seems to be some decimal point slip here.
A couple of articles about the scale of these things:
California’s legal weed industry can’t compete with illicit market
Local government opposition, high taxes and competition from unlicensed businesses are complicating the state's push to build a thriving legal market.
Note that California lags far behind a bunch of legalized states in terms of legal sales per capita. Also note that in CA, the municipality, or the county, can elect to have no legal retail outlets and no permitted delivery operations. Just over a year ago, 61% of the CA population resided where there were no legal outlets.....An availability vacuum that we all know is going to be filled in some fashion, its simple entropy.
Interestingly, Michigan, with all its $-difficulties, leads the states in both Per Capita $ and Per Capita Purchase Weight. In fact, with only 26% of the population of CA, they have almost 65% of the legal total sales and 250% per capita sales. Michigan has plenty of fresh water but the climate would make it difficult to rationalize large scale grows. That leads to the conclusion: Some of these states (Montana, Michigan, Maine) would not have had a very extensive local grow prior to legalization and therefore used to be, and still are, dependent on supply from elsewhere. Which means there was no footing of prior-to-legalalization costs against post-legalization costs, they are and always have been reliant on outside grow sources and transportation. With the transport and distribution regulated, they gained greatly on the unit cost and cut a huge proportion out of prevention and enforcement costs. Last JMO.
Just a suggestion - I'm not willing to dig deep for proof - but this Sheriff appears in news media stories to be very keen on asset forfeiture - sell the vehicles, guns, even property or homes - and set much bigger daily fines on property owners of grow sites. Everything to make it appear to growers that any profit they try to make will flow into police enforcement against them. To discourage growers from even trying.To me, $370M just doesn't make any sense. When they had one just a few years ago just west in LA County, they only found about $30k in cash in a bust with with over 300k plants and more than 30k tons of marijuana.
Sheriff's Operation Hammer Strike eradicates over 1,000 cannabis greenhouses throughout county
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Marijuana Enforcement Team continues the eradication of illegal marijuana cultivation sites throughout the county.www.vvdailypress.com
This is an operation they ran from 2021 to 2022 and only ended up with $1.6M in cash found. How was there that huge of a leap in money found in a year? $370M found during 411 search warrants is right around $900k average per location compared to $1.6M and 127 warrants for an average of $12.6k per location. Either someone was extremely stupid and the sheriff's department was extremely lucky in finding that much cash or that number isn't right.
I could possibly see that much depending on what was seized and how big the fines were. That could be what he was talking about about but the way it came out makes it seem like it was all cash taken from the grows.Just a suggestion - I'm not willing to dig deep for proof - but this Sheriff appears in news media stories to be very keen on asset forfeiture - sell the vehicles, guns, even property or homes - and set much bigger daily fines on property owners of grow sites. Everything to make it appear to growers that any profit they try to make will flow into police enforcement against them. To discourage growers from even trying.
"Instead of playing whack-a-mole, like we do now where we take them down and they pop back up, my hope is that this ordinance will again make it inhospitable for illegal marijuana grows, and they’re going to choose to do that somewhere else rather than San Bernardino County.”
Outreach, body-worn cameras, cannabis fines: Sheriff Dicus lays out department's goals in wide-ranging interview
In an interview with the Daily Press, new San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus discusses his goals, as well as pressing issues in the High Desert.www.vvdailypress.com
Just one example of this threatened strategy, from the DA:
“If those folks can’t remediate the properties through appropriate sentence(s) that we may get in this particular case, then we will work with the county to try to take that property and then sell that property,” he continued...
DA files charges after massive subterranean pot farm found in Newberry Springs
District Attorney Jason Anderson unveiled felony conspiracy charges centering on the alleged operation of a subterranean marijuana facility.www.vvdailypress.com
JMO
Yes, but in one of those articles, he says he has an MA in Communications.
Which I can see and it's a smart thing to do. It was honestly something that hadn't crossed my mind
The official term for this is "xeriscaping."
www.vvng.com
