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.