Fresno County sheriff’s deputies and California National Guard members spent Friday 21 May 2021 tearing down a cannabis grow on a large former farm property southwest of Mendota.[1] The sheriff’s office had estimated about 50,000 plants; three days later it put the total at 21,192 and said it had hauled away 25 tons of illegal marijuana.[2] The plants were growing in 18 greenhouses in what KFSN described as a former farm camp, where detectives believed 10 to 15 people had been living behind a roving patrol.[1] The sheriff’s office also reported 20 greenhouses on the site and living quarters that could have housed up to 15 people.[2]

Detectives found one handgun and one shotgun in the living quarters.[2] Nobody was on the property when deputies arrived with a search warrant at about 6 a.m., and no arrests had been made.[3] A narcotics sergeant said those responsible would face only misdemeanour charges under Proposition 64, the state law that legalised adult cannabis use, because cultivating more than six plants without a licence is punished as a misdemeanour.[3] The sheriff’s office valued the haul at $100 million on the day of the raid.[3] A local news account later reported an estimated street value of more than $31 million for the 25 tons.[4]

The grow lay on land near S. San Diego and W. Lincoln Avenues, southwest of Mendota, according to a sheriff’s office statement published by Sierra Sun Times.[5] The sheriff’s office said the operation was funded by a drug cartel and that detectives considered it the most sophisticated grow they had found.[5] Detectives found the compound by air: deputies flying between two known grows smelled it from about 1,100 feet and two miles away.[1] A new owner had taken over the property in October, and the sheriff’s office said it would contact that person but that landowners face no penalty unless they can be shown to have been involved in cultivation.[1]