Illegal cannabis grower sentenced to jail and felony probation for possessing pesticide, diverting water.

As Monterey County government and cannabis growers work to fit the pieces of taxation and regulation together in the new era of legalization, one thing is clear to everyone: Enforcement of black market cannabis is an important piece of the puzzle in order for legal growers—and in turn the county, which needs the tax revenue—to be successful.

It’s an expensive piece, however, as the Monterey County Board of Supervisors found out at a meeting on Oct. 23, when they heard from Cannabis Program Director Joann Iwamoto that the cost in staff time and resources for regulating and enforcement was more than they originally estimated. That day the board approved spending $1.1 million in additional funds—joining $2.7 million already budgeted—for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

In one example, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office reported that between July and September, staff logged 862 hours at a cost of $75,000. District Attorney Dean Flippo told supervisors that to handle the anticipated load of current and future cases his office needed at least two more employees—an attorney to handle civil cannabis cases and a cannabis investigator.

“We have a serious issue here in our county in terms of illegal cannabis and it’s not going to go away overnight,” Flippo said.

The problem not only eats into legal cannabis revenue, it's also a serious environmental issue, as one recent case the DA has been working on since July illustrates.

Jose Roberto Meneses, 29, a resident of Kern County, was captured on July 6, 2018, as wildlife wardens from the CDFW’s Marijuana Permitting Team, assisted by DA investigators, conducted an eradication of plants from a 1.25-acre site on property owned by California American Water Company, according to a Dec. 18 press release from the DA's office.

The remote site in rural Carmel Valley, south of Garland Ranch Regional Park and west of the Carmel River, contained nearly 4,500 cannabis plants at various stages of growth.

Investigators found a plastic water bottle containing carbofuran, which is illegal in the U.S. and highly toxic to humans. They also discovered an empty container of “Ratone,” an unregistered pesticide containing zinc phosphide, poisonous to wildlife. A dead wild rabbit believed to be poisoned was also found.

Meneses watered the plants using a gravity-fed system of plastic water lines that extended for over a mile from an active tributary to the Carmel River. CDFW estimates that more than 1.6 million gallons of water had been diverted.

On Nov. 6, Meneses entered no contest pleas in Monterey County Superior Court to possessing and using a restricted material, carbofuran, a felony; depositing a hazardous substance upon the land of another without permission, a felony; substantially diverting the natural flow of a stream without an alteration agreement from CDFW, a misdemeanor; and, unlawfully killing a wild rabbit, a misdemeanor.

He was sentenced Dec. 18 to three years of felony probation, 270 days in county jail, a $5,000 fine and a $5,000 contribution to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Preservation Fund for environmental crimes.