FEDS RAID SEBASTOPOL POT FARM; 6 DETAINED

DEA Seizes Thousands Of Plants; Petaluma Man Accused Of Assaulting Agent

SEBASTOPOL -- Federal agents Thursday raided a ranch on the outskirts of
Sebastopol, carting away thousands of mature marijuana plants and arresting
the owner of a Petaluma pot club. It was one of the largest marijuana
seizures on the North Coast in recent memory.

At least six people were being questioned, but only one had been arrested
by late Thursday. Robert Schmidt, 51, owner of the Petaluma marijuana
buyers club, was held on suspicion of assaulting a Drug Enforcement
Administration agent.

One agent, who insisted on anonymity, said Schmidt was arrested after he
tried to strip another agent of his firearm. Schmidt had rented the
six-acre property since March. His Petaluma club, Genesis 1:29, also was
raided Thursday.

A Chevrolet Blazer loaded with what one agent said were computer hard
drives from the club drove up and parked beside the ranch house while
agents were taking a lunch break from cutting down marijuana plants with
chain saws.

Crossbows and knives also were seized at the ranch, agents said.

Neighbors said Schmidt was growing marijuana for Genesis and numerous other
clubs around the Bay Area that sell marijuana for medical use. California
voters approved an initiative in 1996 allowing medical use of marijuana
with approval from a physician.

But possession of marijuana remains a federal offense, and the Justice
Department has stepped up enforcement since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected
a legal challenge last year.

Medical marijuana activists condemned Thursday's raid, saying it would
endanger an amicable relationship they have developed with local law
enforcement agencies. In 2001, Sonoma County District Attorney Mike Mullins
said he wouldn't prosecute small-scale growers who could show a viable
medical marijuana claim.

Under county guidelines, people with physician approval may have up to 99
plants or three pounds of dried marijuana.

"Trust has built up between the Sheriff's Department and the medical
marijuana community, and the DEA, by these kinds of actions, really puts
that at risk," said Ernest "Doc" Knapp, spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance
for Medical Marijuana.

David Charlebois of Sebastopol, who owns the ranch, said Schmidt told him
he was going to grow corn. He had suspicions about the operation but didn't
confirm that Schmidt was growing marijuana until Wednesday. Although he
supports medical use of marijuana and called Schmidt an excellent tenant,
Charlebois said he'll consult an attorney about evicting him.

"That's my retirement investment over there, so I have to protect the
property," he said.

Throughout the day, the pungent aroma of marijuana mingled with the sweet
smell of Gravenstein apples from a nearby orchard as about a dozen armed
agents took down a crop they estimated at about 3,000 plants.

Neighbors said Schmidt told them he had more than 5,000 plants.

"Is this the medicinal part?" one agent could be heard saying, his joke
followed by a chain saw's loud grinding.

Officials at the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco
declined comment, refusing even to confirm that a raid had taken place or
that Schmidt had been arrested. Neighbors, who asked not to be named, said
they began complaining about Schmidt a month ago to county authorities and
were told he'd been under investigation for a year and a half.

Some neighbors said Schmidt had been open, even somewhat "of a braggart"
about his operation.

"He said he has around 5,400 plants and it's worth millions of dollars,"
said one woman. "He's very proud of what he's doing, trying to provide
marijuana to patients."

One neighbor said the conflict wasn't with Schmidt or with medical
marijuana. Their concern was the large quantity of marijuana being grown in
a residential area. They were worried particularly about the potential for
violence that can accompany the valuable crop. In 1999, armed robbers
invaded Schmidt's Petaluma home, tying up Schmidt and four other occupants,
including two children, before making off with marijuana being grown for
his club.

Last year, in response to pressure from the city and neighborhood
complaints, Schmidt moved the club to a commercial office park on South
Point Boulevard in east Petaluma.

Over the past year, the DEA has conducted at least four raids in Sonoma
County targeting pot clubs and self-described medical marijuana advocates
and growers. Schmidt, a former welder, has said he suffers from asbestosis,
a lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers.

He went to federal prison in the 1970s for smuggling marijuana from South
America. In 1996, after being arrested in Petaluma for growing pot at his
home, he opted for a drug treatment program instead of battling the charges
in court as a way to test the newly-passed Proposition 215.

News researcher Michele Van Hoeck contributed to this story.