From: The Sacramento Bee
Highlights
- Two tribes occupy property targeted in raid
- Two pot-cultivation facilities searched Wednesday
- Informants says Canadian cigarette-maker jointly operated grows
A surveillance photo taken June 19 from the northbound shoulder of Highway 395 in rural Modoc County shows part of a large marijuana manufacturing site on the XL Ranch, which is American Indian land belonging to the Pit River Tribe. The white pickup truck belongs to a private security firm contracted to guard the site. | Special Agent Charles Turner U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
Warrants signed Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney authorized federal agents to search “two large-scale marijuana cultivation facilities located on federally recognized tribal lands at the Alturas Indian Rancheria and the XL Ranch in Modoc County.” The county forms the northeast corner of California, with Oregon on the north and Nevada on the east.
A lengthy affidavit filed in support of the warrants quotes two informants as telling sheriff’s deputies that the two manufacturing sites are apparently operated jointly with the owners of a large cigarette-maker in Canada. In addition, according to the affidavit, a member of the Alturas Tribe has told the county’s supervisors that the marijuana manufacturing venture is financed by Jerry Montour, the top officer and controlling shareholder in the Canadian business. The two informants said they saw Montour earlier this year on the Alturas Indian Rancheria in an area between the heavily guarded building housing the pot-growing enterprise and the tribe’s Desert Rose Casino. [Emphasis Added]
