KERN COUNTY — A 24-year-old Lamont man was arrested on Friday after deputies raided a clandestine marijuana garden located on Bureau of Land Management property off of Old Ox Court Road, near Breckenridge Mountain.
Lazaro Torres was booked into the Kern County jail and will be facing federal charges for manufacturing a controlled substance, conspiracy and damaging public lands.
According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, Torres was taken into custody after the Sheriff’s Major Violator Unit, SWAT and agents from the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service served a search warrant on the BLM property on June 20.
While serving the warrant, deputies said Torres he attempted to flee, but was seized, along with approximately 5,681 marijuana plants from the garden, which have a potential street value of over $8.5 million dollars.
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