Authorities investigating extraction lab explosion in Willits
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WILLITS // On September 12th just before 2 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on the 500 block of Cropley Lane to assist the Little Lake Fire Department regarding a reported explosion.
Deputies and fire personnel located a 30,000-square-foot industrial metal-sided building, though nothing seemed amiss — at least, not initially.
As it turned out, the building had a giant hole in the roof, left by an unknown projectile that had been expelled from inside.
Responding deputies and emergency personnel entered the building and discovered a “highly sophisticated marijuana extraction lab.” Several greenhouses were also found elsewhere on the property, all of which contained “several hundred growing marijuana plants.”
Initial investigation at the scene revealed a cannabis growing permit which had been issued to the property by the Mendocino County Agriculture Department.
Due to the presence of the extraction lab, however, the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force was brought in to assume “investigative control.”
So far, no arrests have been made. The investigation remains ongoing.
