Investigation into Mendocino County grow-op robbery continues, suspects arrested
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COVELO // On July 16th of this year, just after 2:30 AM, someone called 911 to report that several armed persons had arrived at his rural property claiming to be law enforcement officers.
Their appearance and demeanor strongly suggested that they were, in fact, posing as cops and intended to steal his marijuana crops.
The suspect fled the property and was met by Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies along Highway 162. He described the events as well as the vehicles involved, at which point deputies drove back to the property. There, they encountered a truck matching the description provided by the victim. The vehicle appeared to attempt an escape once officers arrived, but stopped a short time later and was abandoned.
Inside, deputies found “firearms and stolen property, but no suspects.”
Another resident on the property, who was unharmed, said that he’d been confronted at the house by “5-8 men wearing ski masks, armed with firearms, claiming to be law enforcement officers.” The suspects held the victim at gunpoint and questioned him about the locations of valuables and possible other people on the property.
Afterwards, the victim at the house was robbed of his own personal belongings and forced to help the thieves steal marijuana plants. He was released when the suspects drove off.
At around 11 AM that day, deputies located and arrested three suspects without incident: Daniel Hernandez-Sanchez (24), Matthew Sturges (31), and Alejandro Nunez (24).
29-year-old Joshua Hanover was also arrested in connection to the crime, with bail set at $525,000.
Also identified was 34-year-old Trevor Michael Jackson, who’d managed to flee law enforcement using “motorcycles and all terrain vehicles” whenever deputies would find him. That all changed on August 26th of this year, when a tip alerted police to to Jackson hiding on a parcel of land on the 4800 block of Black Bart Trail in Redwood Valley.
He was arrested and booked on a felony arrest warrant with bail set to $500,000.
