West Point area raid eradicates 23,245 pot plants

The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that a multiagency investigation in the West Point area resulted in the eradication of 23,245 marijuana plants last week but yielded no arrests.
The operation on Thursday drew the attention of residents in the Bummerville area outside West Point both because of the aircraft and ground vehicles involved and also because of noises that sounded to some like gunfire.
Calaveras County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Macedo said that there was no gunfire during the operation and that the sound residents heard was a device used by a SWAT team during a search. Macedo and other Sheriff’s Office representatives have released few details about the operation in order to preserve the integrity of an ongoing investigation.
Calaveras Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Hewitt confirmed the magnitude of the eradication effort. He also said that the marijuana farm that was eradicated is not among those registered under Calaveras County’s urgency ordinance regulating the cultivation of medical cannabis.
Hewitt said that investigators did find weapons during searches. “We recovered a long gun and a handgun,” Hewitt said.