Ontario Man Busted in Illegal Kern County Marijuana Grow
DELANO — Police busted a 48-year-old Ontario man in Kern County on Tuesday after an investigation led them to a large marijuana field in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Officials said they arrested Israel Arteaga Martinez and transported him to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Central Receiving Facility Jail where he was booked on a charge of cultivation of marijuana.
Martinez’s arrest occurred in a remote area of northeast Kern County at around 5 p.m. on July29.
That’s when Kern County deputies assigned to the Kern Narcotics Enforcement Team, with assistance from deputies from the Sheriff’s Office in nearby Glennville and Delano, along with the Sheriff’s Major Violators Unit went to a remote area around Rancheria Road and Poso Flat Road to serve a warrant in an ongoing marijuana growing investigation.
According to police, they discovered over 700 marijuana plants being grown illegally during their search.
The plants, which were seized by deputies for evidence, had the ability to produce over 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana with a potential street value in excess of one million dollars.
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