POT BUST IN SEQUOIA NETS 5,000 PLANTS

Law enforcement officials descended on a remote marijuana garden in the
Sequoia National Forest Wednesday, seizing an estimated $17.5 million in
pot and arresting an alleged grower.

The Kern County Sheriff's Department SWAT Team and federal Forest Service
officials arrested an unidentified man Wednesday at the gardens, which were
located deep in the Greenhorn Mountains roughly 10 miles west of Lake
Isabella, said Kern County Sheriff's Cmdr. Hal Chealander.

Law enforcement officers seized roughly 5,000 plants that were valued at
$3,000 to $3,500 each. The plants were found in the same area where law
enforcement officials found 13,345 marijuana plants Aug. 2, Chealander said.

During the August raid, law enforcement officials overlooked 5,000 plants
that were mixed in with the surrounding plant life.

"They conceal them so well in the underbrush, in the forest," Chealander
said. "Even the aircraft missed them at first."

The 5,000 plants were eventually discovered by a helicopter crew making a
second pass over the area of the old raid. When officers descended on the
site Wednesday they discovered the suspect attempting to flee, Chealander said.

The suspect, whose identity was expected to be released this morning, was
taken to Bakersfield Wednesday night for questioning, Chealander said.
While officers found only one person at the gardens Wednesday, Chealander
said they found a small camp during the August raid that appeared to be
home to two or three growers.

Wednesday's bust is the third in less than two months in the Kern County
portions of the Sequoia National Forest. Since Aug. 2, law enforcement
officials have seized more than 77,000 marijuana plants worth an estimated
$230 million in the national forest.