A Georgia man was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on 4 November 2026 after the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office investigated an armed robbery that grew out of a cannabis sale south of Ukiah.[1][2] Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies and the county’s marijuana eradication team handled the case after a 23-year-old Ukiah man reported being robbed near Oak Knoll Road and South State Street in Ukiah.[1] The suspect was accused of firing at the 23-year-old during the robbery and taking his cell phone, wallet and keys before driving off in a rental vehicle with Idaho plates.[3][2]

With the victim tracking his stolen phone, officers stopped at a Hopland gas station where a California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden found a white van with Idaho plates and several people fighting.[1] The driver fled on foot; a shelter-in-place alert went out at about 4:37 p.m. and officers searched the Highway 175 and Old Hopland area for hours with a drone and a helicopter, without finding him.[1] In the abandoned white van at the gas station, investigators found about 177 pounds of processed and packaged cannabis, which they were told was evidence of the marijuana sale immediately before the robbery.[1][2] The victim’s phone and keys were recovered from the van and the suspect’s wallet and identification were found there, identifying him as a 36-year-old man from Hiram, Georgia.[4]

Police stopped him at the airport for an arrest warrant from Mendocino County and booked him in San Mateo County on first-degree robbery, possession of cannabis for sale and transportation of cannabis for sale, with bail set at $300,000.[1][2] Sheriff’s investigators said they had not recovered a firearm or identified other suspects and were still trying to establish where the cannabis came from.[3]