The Antelope Valley Times

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Multi-agency raids target cartel-operated marijuana grows in Antelope Valley area

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[Images via Twitter @LA County Sheriffs and @DEA Los Angeles]
LANCASTER – Law enforcement authorities cleared numerous illegal marijuana grow locations in the Antelope Valley Tuesday in what the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deemed “the largest operation ever to take place in the history of LASD.”

By late morning, the sheriff’s department reported that authorities had made “several arrests” and expected to recover “several thousand pounds of illegally grown marijuana by the end of today.”

Sheriff’s officials said the multi-agency operation was designed “to take down illegal cartel operated marijuana groves impacting farmers, families, and businesses.”

Also involved in the operation were the Drug Enforcement Administration, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Army, and sheriff’s personnel from Riverside, Ventura, San Bernardino and Kern counties, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

Villanueva told reporters at a news conference early Tuesday afternoon [view it below] that more than two dozen search warrants had been served so far, and numerous other locations were being targeted.

“We’re going to continue … until there’s not a single marijuana grow left standing here in the high desert,” Villanueva said.

“That is a tall order, but … it needs to happen to basically put this to an end,” Villanueva said. “Because we have legal marijuana grows in California. They’re very small in number; they’re very tightly regulated … and they’re being put out of business by the illegal grows.”

Among the problems associated with the illegal marijuana grows were violence, and the use of pesticides and a large amount of water by the criminals, Villanueva said.

“We’re estimating that it takes about — from 2020 numbers alone — it takes about 150 million gallons of water for that harvest,” Villanueva said.

“Here in the high desert, water is precious. We have alfalfa farmers, potato and carrot farmers,” Villanueva said. “And seeing them go out of business to support illegal marijuana … which enriches the cartels is something we’re not going to tolerate at all.”

Villanueva said that in 2020, sheriff’s detectives identified 150 illegal marijuana grows in the area, and the number increased this year to more than 500.

“That’s how much it grew in the span of just one year — during a pandemic,” Villanueva said. “As you can see, there were some people who were very, very busy during the pandemic.”

Villanueva said violent crime “has been associated with these illegal grows.”

“In 2020, we had two murders up here in the high desert, attached to illegal grows,” Villanueva said. “In March of 2021, a murder victim was found buried in the desert near Lake Los Angeles, and the suspects wanted in connection with the murder operated an illegal marijuana grow right up here in Lake Los Angeles.”

In April, a robbery and shootout at an illegal indoor grow operation resulted in a death, Villanueva said.

Villanueva earlier told Fox11, which accompanied authorities during the raids, that operators of the marijuana farms had gunmen who threatened local residents, and the illegal grows diverted water away from legitimate local farmers. According to the station, the operation targeted more than 70 individual greenhouses, and crews brought in bulldozers provided by the city of Lancaster to flatten the marijuana farms.

“The fact of the matter is, we are tearing down 380 million dollars worth of infrastructure and product — nobody takes a hit like that and just accepts it,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said at the news conference [view it below]. “But the message to the cartels is very clear: you cross that line in the sand and come into Antelope Valley, we will take everything you have… and if you come back, we will do it again,” Parris added.

More than 400 personnel were involved in the operation, Villanueva said.

[Images via Twitter @LA County Sheriffs and @DEA Los Angeles]

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126 comments for "Multi-agency raids target cartel-operated marijuana grows in Antelope Valley area"

  1. “ They divert a farmer’s water canals with a series of pumps, man made dams, and irrigation tubing. ”

    Water canals in the Antelope Valley?

    Claire has no idea what she’s talking about.

  2. California offers $100 million to rescue it’s struggling legal marijuana industry! LOL, the cartels love California and their illegal cannabis industry, because it is so easy to ship across states than over the border. Cartels come from China, Cuba, and Mexico, and probably a few others to set up on public land, private land, and the land they purchase to set up their sophisticated operations. Stolen water you say? they don’t care, it’s free. Some commenters back this illegal activity.

    • This is just daft. If a drug cartel is gonna go to the lengths of operating in California because “shipping over state lines is easy” they are gonna ship stuff that MAKES MONEY. There is more profit in a carload of meth than there is in a semi load of pot.

      As to “saving the struggling industry”…that’s what happens when chucklehead profiteers like Wrecks try to game the system the law created. People who actually know how to grow pot can’t get a license, so distributors and pharmacies will keep buying from unlicensed suppliers because that’s the only supply.

      All of this drama about cartels is just BS, and until someone has a story about stolen water that doesn’t change every time they post I’m gonna think that’s BS too.

      • In Wrecks’ Lancaster, it’s not a matter if you know how to grow pot, it’s whether or know you know who is boss and who should profit. Do you think he cared about the quality of the weed back in the day? You think he cares now? All he cares about now is what he has always cared about, and that is money and power.

  3. Nothing has to be proven to you Tim and Marley. What matters is the action taken to bulldoze these massive illegal grows because of the complaints from the good citizens of the A.V.. Stolen water, dried up wells is the collateral damage done to our A.V. We don’t wait for answers from Rex, because he’s not our source for truth.

    • “We don’t wait for answers from Rex, because he’s not our source for truth.”
      That may be the only way you can accurately use Rex and truth in the same sentence.

  4. Below, the Antelope Valley Experts on Everything will discuss this topic.

    Try not to shoot milk outcher nose when you read the comments.

  6. Here in clown world we favor Mexican criminal cartels over law abiding citizens…..

    Just look at some of the comments below….

    Honestly the only reason they are mad is cause they destroyed a big chunk of their do stupidity fuel, aka weed.

  7. The residents being greatly affected by these illegal operations don’t care about your political party or your mayors.

  8. Glad to see the action taken by law enforcement bulldozing these marijuana grows. Thieves stealing water and we have to pay. Bullies intimidating residents, has been a nightmare. Thank you for listening to our complaints and taking action.

    • I’m kinda hoping the next time you are illegally parked we can crush your car with a bulldozer.

      • Hmmm, lets compare. Illegal parking or criminally operated grows that bring thieves that steal water and bully land owning residents that pay taxes.

        • Both worth the issue of a citation…neither grant the badged thugs a free pass on destruction of property. I keep pointing out that the only crime being actually prosecuted here is operating a business without a license. All of this “stealing water” and “bullying the neighbors” is just unsubstantiated. The “criminal pot growing drug cartel members” is total BS put out as justification so people who are living in the past will look away from the thuggery going on here.

          • Tim…still waiting for Wrecks to give us the names of the cartels and provide some proof of sophisticated water pilfering. Stories of ditches, pipes, and canals are nice but where is the evidence? All I have seen is some taker trucks and who knows who they belonged to. Wrecks says the cartels. Fine. Which ones?

          • Not so Tim and Marley…You just don’t care about the facts. We that live in this know what’s going on and because our complaints were taken seriously, action was taken. None of your comments are based on reality, so reasonable discourse is impossible. It’s always the very small group that supports the illegal growers and suggests the farmers and residents going through this are to be demonized.

          • What do you mean we who live in this mon? You don’t know where I live mon. Where I live I see Wrecks and his corruption. Where I live I have seen years and years of Wrecks and his corruption and his lies mon. Why would I believe anything that he says? After watching him on TV mon talking about a sheriff who took a bullet to the shoulder and hearing Wrecks describe the pain that the sheriff was in, and then finding out that Wrecks was lying was the final straw. Wreck either has issues with hallucinations or telling the truth mon. The truth of it is it is most likely a little of both. Nothing Wrecks says about these grows should be taken as truth unless someone with integrity can provide real proof mon.

        • I’m a local resident of lake Los Angeles for 15 years I had my own grow operation. I have my sellers permit as well as my cannabis tax permit. I am not the cartel but yet I was labeled as one, and treated like one. I’m a law abiding citizen who pays taxes at a higher rate then any other business. For something that is legal now in California l, wether we like it or not it’s going to be bigger then the all the industries combined. I know people that were renting greenhouse lots at so called cartel operation, one of them was a sweet old lady (75) who has a passion for helping the people in need of natural healing. Everybody judging and speaking without knowing the truth Or actual facts is the true definition of ignorance. CARTEL YOU SAY, well which one and where is the picture of them captured.

          • BS. According to LA county there are NO Zero legal permitted grows in unincorporated areas of LA County. Better get your permit not from a crackhead at 7-11

    • Bullies intimidating residents is a frequent occurrence at Wrecks’ meetings. You might even end up in jail if you dare question his all knowing authority.

      • Well, I guess you’re just like Rex Parris. Commenters backing lawless, illegal growers stealing and bullying the farmers and residents. Minimizing the suffering of the law abiding citizens in our communities by dismissing the thievery.

        • LCR is right. It is hypocritical to trash Rex Parris for all his corrupt deals, lies, bullying, abuse of power, destruction of people’s character, lining the pockets of his cronies, giving pot grow permits to his chosen few, and wasting tax payer dollars on pet projects and then turn a blind eye to criminals who have illegal pot grows with stolen water.

  9. Funny that I didn’t notice until just now, but Wrecks put the basic philosophy of the old boys network right there in the article: “come into Antelope Valley, we will take everything you have.”

    Since Bell went down the Antelope Valley has the most corrupt local government in California, bar none. (used to be Lancaster, but with the network getting their puppets into Palmdale city hall it’s pretty much universal now).

    • You left out the first part of the quote, Tim. You hate everything going on in either Palmdale or Lancaster, but you have the right to post your never ending complaints.

      • He’s a Nancy Pelosi democrat, more loyal to communist China than the constitution he lives under.

  10. no wonder Parris is your mayor, you’re as self-centered as he is. Happy to see the locals getting back what was stolen.

  11. Residents and farmers of Antelope Valley thank you for tearing down all of these illegal grows. Giving us back our land and water.

      • … very well financed, these illegal growers have their own water tankers. They look just like county maintenance vehicles. They steal thousands of gallons of city water from our neighborhood fire hydrants –

        • Wait…I thought you said they were “stealing from farmers.” Now they are “stealing city water.” You aren’t just throwing mud to see what sticks by any chance, are you?

          • The water is coming from the underground reservoirs which have been partially depleted by “legal” usage already. It doesn’t matter where they steal the water, in the grand scheme of things they’re competing with farmers, firefighters and inhabitants who need some of it.

          • Stealing precious water from our farmers. They already have to cut back their usage by growing less because of a severe drought, so when sophisticated thieves with plenty of money set up grows, the farmers suffer greatly. We need our farmers in the A.V. and we’ve already lost a large percentage of agriculture.

          • With Rex it’s the old ‘If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it people will eventually come to believe it’. Whether it’s water, the homeless, mentally ill people shooting a sheriff’s deputy, Chinese birth tourism, the Eye in the Sky, Kensington, Traction Seal, McMahon’s, et. al., Rex and Co. just keep pushing the B.S. and his lap dogs lap it up.

          • Question, Dammit…What lie would this be? The farmers, and residents in the unincorporated areas are lying? The complaints called in by the farmers and residents were fabricated? The precious water that is being stolen from the farmers is just fabricated, so they called in false reports? Not one of you upstanding, righteous commenters have said one caring word about our farmers and residents in our rural community.

          • So now the “stolen” water is doming direct from “underground reservoirs.”

            I guess that is inarguable. Grows, licensed or otherwise, do in fact consume water, so if you look at “every use other than farming is water that a farmer could have bought instead” I guess that makes a theft case.

            I’m gonna go ‘steal’ a shower.

          • Steal a shower? I explained in another comment how sophisticated grows steal water from farmers, but you’re not interested in hearing the truth about this issue.

          • ‘Stealing’ water from fire hydrants, allegedly, is not ‘stealing’ water from the farmers. The farmers do not own the water in the hydrants. Of course if they are ‘stealing’ it is wrong. Anyone caught ‘stealing’ should be prosecuted. But do not be misled: Wrecks is most concerned that these grows are ‘stealing’ profits from the ‘fortunate chosen ones’ who received permits to grow. The Good Old Boy network. Why doesn’t Wrecks work to expand the grow economy and bring them into the fold? This would generate more tax revenue. Wrecks claims they are the cartels. Which one or ones?

          • Dear Claire, for the sake of argument, let us assume Wrecks is 100% right about the cartels, stealing water, et. al. Any comments on his lies about homeless, mentally ill people shooting a sheriff’s deputy, Chinese birth tourism, the Eye in the Sky, Kensington, Traction Seal, McMahon’s, et. al.? Even a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day. Maybe this time Wrecks is right? Maybe not.

          • Tim and Dammit: Now you have gone way off. Siphoning water from the farmers in rural areas is a sophisticated endeavor and the farmers pay. Now, I could siphon something that you pay for, then maybe you might not be happy, so you could take matters into your own hands or call for law enforcement. these good people chose to call and get law enforcement involved. BTW, people that operate legal grows don’t siphon water from farmers.

          • Focus, Claire, focus. Let us assume Wrecks is 100% right about the cartels, stealing water, et. al. Any comments on his lies about homeless, mentally ill people shooting a sheriff’s deputy, Chinese birth tourism, the Eye in the Sky, Kensington, Traction Seal, McMahon’s, et. al.? Anything? Anything? Claire? Bueller? Bueller? Claire?

            I thought not.

          • Claire I asked multiple times about this water stealing you have “observed.” I got exactly nothing. Some vague BS about “dams and pumps and stuff” and some other BS about water trucks and now the new line is “siphoning.”

            I’ve already said that sure THEFT is a problem, whether it is water being stolen or whatever. But for all the dramatic noises and speculative fiction about this “water thievery” I haven’t heard anything that makes “I have seen it with my own eyes” about the “water thieving” any more believable than the absurdist notion that these growers are “cartels.” There are no theft charges being filed apparently, and there seems to be no investigation in that direction.

            This was straight thuggery by Wrecks’ minions with badges. If someone is running an unlicensed business that competes with you do you think they are going to get raided with a bulldozer? They are gonna get a citation and have to pay the fine and get their licensing issue handled. That’s how petty crimes are dealt with. This was a Wrecks driven abuse of authority from top to bottom.

        • Not stealing it. Buying lots of it from Littlerock Creek Water District. Drive by there in the morning. Rag tag Trailers with water cubes and UHauls with license plates removed. Overloaded dragging bumpers down Hwy 138.
          The crooked Board of directors are the LRCWD are under investigation by the state. The CHP have been confiscating vehicles left and right. The scumbags even bought a retired Fire Truck to haul water.
          When you naysayers can’t flush your toilets cause we run out of water only that will smell as bad as your breath.

          • So the story changes AGAIN.

            They’re stealing water with pumps and lines! Wait, no I meant from the aquifer! No, they are buying water but they drive raggedy vehicles so that’s just as bad! They are cartels!

            Well, maybe just thugs! Well, maybe they aren’t even growing pot they are just annoyed at their nosey neighbors!

            This was a giant put on drama to support incumbent ‘law and order’ politicians like Mike Garcia and K Barger and the sheriff. It was a total crock. There were no ‘cartels’ and no ‘violent gangsters,’ just folks running unlicensed businesses…which is a fairly petty crime to be blowing into such an uproar.

      • According to Claire, it is a very sophisticated project. All I have seen are photos of containers of water and a few trucks appearing to be taking water from hydrants. No ditches, pipes, hoses, underground reservoirs, or anything like that.

        • I went to Victorville to look at a car a few weeks and was amazed that I passed 3 or 4 trucks that had huge water containers in them. But Tim is right, since its decriminalization, there isn’t really much of a need to go in like that. Unless they are cartel. Lol. But I doubt it, it wouldn’t have gone down the way it did, and we woyld.know by now. Fox would’ve been all over that one.

          • Wrecks like to toss around the word cartels so he sounds tougher. He is merely crushing the competition who can’t get permits to grow because they aren’t the Chosen Ones.

          • Use your computer to learn the law. Legalization, decriminalization, illegal grows and thieves stealing water from our residents that have to pay. decriminalization is not what this issue is about in Lake Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

      • Tapping into those overhead agricultural sprinkler systems is mighty dirty business. It gets muddy. Quick-in, quick out, quick ‘n clean, hitting east-side fire hydrants in our lower income neighborhoods, those people could care less if the city’s getting ripped off.

  13. Okay, guys… Y’all are getting off track a bit and diverging from the issue of the article…

    First off; YES, the Rex-man IS bad. (and corrupt, evil, slimy, etc., etc., ..just add your derogatory term here, it probably fits). His predilection for corruption regarding grow permits and such in the Lancaster (and surrounding) area IS, indeed, A problem but this one was out of his capacity. The fact that he chose to kype the spotlight on this bust, unrelated to anything he is doing and not happening within his city limits, is just his normal sliminess in action.

    However; This bust is a different issue than Rex and his Bad Ol Boys. The entire idea of having a legal market means better consistency, safety, reliability, and a myriad of other benefits to the consumers of said product. Those who have chosen to continue on the path of illegal grows threaten all of the progress made and must be dealt with. This is no longer a ‘War on Drugs’ thing, it is a regulation and safety issue. This bust is of that nature. It is just amplified by the scale of the operation(s) found, along and the associated criminality the perpetrators engaged in. Much like any pest control, if you found one nest, there are likely several remaining. To that end, I sincerely wish the men and women of the LASD a ‘tally ho’ for happy and successful hunting… There ARE more out there, still.

    I do find myself shaking my head on this a bit as the amount of money involved for the infrastructure is so high, that it seems plain silly NOT to go legal. But then, criminals are not particularly noted for their logic and intelligence.

    • Your ‘regulation and safety’ issue goes immediately sideways when Wrecks got involved. Sure, in theory, that’s ‘benefits of product regulation,’ but that is dependent on a regulatory agency that has achieving those things as a goal. The licensing process here is not based on producing a better, safer, more uniform product.

      Wrecks and his pals can’t grow anything but ragweed, and they don’t do real well even at that. Because they cannot compete in the marketplace as it exists they need to exercise the monopoly power of the licensing process…for the benefit of the licensees, not the consumers.

      • Exactly. For the Republicans who have decided to go from the “War on Drugs” to “War on anyone but us dispensing drugs”, they have to make sure they are the only supplier.

  14. What difference does it make how many are “either friends of Rex, donors to the Fern Street Mafia campaigns, or part of the good old boy network”????

    Are you suggesting that illegal grow operations should be allowed to continue because some of or all “of the 20 or so (somebody else said 10) legal grow permits issued in Lancaster are either friends of Rex, donors to the Fern Street Mafia campaigns, or part of the good old boy network?

    • It’s a legitimate question of priorities. Wrecks little PR minions are spewing all this nonsense about “cartels” and whatnot, but what these people actually are is just ordinary folk running unlicensed businesses. Yes it is illegal, but in the legal sense they are committing the same crime as about half the poolmen, gardeners, and handyman services people. And invariably the ONLY people who really cry for enforcement against these particular ‘criminals’ are their licensed competitors.

      So how does this relatively petty crime turn into “the largest operation in the history of the sheriff’s department”?

      Because the lisenced competition doing the complaining are Wrecks and his crew, and they use the sheriff’s department as their personal goon squad. If that doesn’t bother you then…well, whatever.

      • Speaking of these so called cartels, has Wrecks told us which ones? He claims they left Mexico because there was no water there. So they came to the Mojave Desert?

        It takes smoking a lot of what these so called cartels were growing to come up with some of the stuff that comes out of Wrecks’ mouth.

        • The drug cartels got out of the pot business when they discovered cocaine about fifty years ago. Wrecks is so full of nonsense that he should be just forcibly retired.

          • It’s all about value density. Cartels are interested in profit. You make more off a carload of cocaine than you make off a planeload of pot, so the cartels moved on. The black market pot business is mostly full of old weedheads that have been developing and purifying strains since the last century, not ‘drug cartels.’ There is no market for the field grown ragweed the cartels used to supply.

          • Sorry, Tim. That is incorrect. Although the scale of their involvement has reduced a bit in the marijuana portion of their operations, various cartels are still to be found attempting to circumvent marijuana normalization laws to keep getting money into their coffers.

        • Rex suffers from mental issues just like his twin Trump, separated at birth.

          -pathological lying

          -corrupt practices

          -using the DA to settle scores.

          -and failing at everything, the blvd, street painting, unwanted roundabouts and bike lanes that aren’t used, the blvd (I know it bears repeating), the “flying fortress” protecting what?

          One look at the blvd and its history tells you all you need to know about Rex. Bad idea, money down the drain, helping his friends, and then abandoning it as it goes further downhill.

          What mystifies me is how and why Lancaster residents tolerate living in the Antelope Valley’s Second City. Don’t they care?

      • Glad to see Parris doing something to help our farmers and residents get rid of these thieves using private land, stealing precious water from our farmers, and harassing residents.

        • Parris didn’t do squat. He is taking the credit for what Congressman Garcia and LASD did. Parris just likes seeing his mug and name plastered all over the place.

      • Pool men, gardeners, and handymen? I saw these massive grows and the growers stealing water from farmers, harassing residents, and setting up on private property. Call them ordinary folks, or call them cartels, as long as these sophisticated illegal grows are gone. Don’t care who began this operation to rid our A.V., as long as it’s done.

        • Yeah those businesses are frequently operated without a license. That is the crime being discussed here.

          “Massive grows” is really irrelevant. A guy mowing the neighbor’s lawn the same time as he mows his own and the neighbor paying gas money is just as much of an unlicensed business as the guy running three trucks with eighty yard routes.

          Stealing water? Yes that’s an issue. If that was going on that should be the crime being responded to. Funny how with all you heroes ‘reporting’ eyewitness accounts there seem to be no such charges being filed.

          Harassing residents? You claim to be an eyewitness here too, so please explain what you actually saw? I find it very unlikely that someone running a large scale unlicensed business goes out of their way to attract attention, so the skeptic in me thinks this “harassment” probably ran the opposite direction. But do expand.

          Setting up on private property? Do you mean trespassing? I mean, the whole desert in private property, pretty much. I own a chunk of it myself. I haven’t looked at it in at least three years. If some pot grower set up on it I’d be unaware of it. Blissfully unaware. If you took it into your head to “defend” my property rights I…wouldn’t care either way? But I wouldn’t want you to present it as you were doing me some sort of favor.

      • Rex doesn’t contribute all those political donations to not tell them what he wants them to do! It’s easy when they want to please the money and it only takes a suggestion from the money source. Buisness as usual

  15. All I care about regarding massive illegal grows using residents’ private property, stealing water from farmers, intimidating residents, is for all to be torn down and removed. So relieved to see this being done.

    • The term stealing water it’s nothing more than a trigger word to emotionally gain public sentiment without any real facts pertaining to the crime.

  16. FYI – This is LA County – the unincorporated areas. This has nothing to do with Parris , Mike Garcia or any politician. They had no say in what LASO is doing. The residents out here are the driving force. We’re the ones calling Barger’s office demanding action. They’re stealing our land and water and enough is enough.

    • If you think Parris wasn’t behind this then I have some lakefront property in Lake LA to sell you. Competition. Crush the competition.

      • This isn’t about crushing the competition, Marley. These are massive illegal grows and tons of water is being stolen from our farmers, and residents are being intimidated.

        • Yes, Claire, yes. I’m so moved by Parris’s compassion for our farmers. Too bad he doesn’t have an ounce for our veterans, homeless, and mentally ill.

          Follow the money on these permitted pot grows in Lancaster. You might be surprised at where it leads. I’m not at all surprised. But then again, I’m hip to Parris and the Good Old Boy network.

          • Marley, you went off in several different directions. This is about farmers and residents that have had enough of these cartels and their illegal grows, stealing water, intimidating residents etc.. I don’t care if Parris has compassion, or no compassion regarding any groups you’ve mentioned, that’s his problem. He doesn’t live in my head, so I’m not going to follow the money. I agree with Igor’s comment. These illegal grows have to be eradicated and I’m happy to see it happening.

          • Keep drinking the Rexaide Claire. Keep drinking. Nothing he does is for anyone’s benefit other than his own.

        • Describe how the water is being stollen?

          Are they pumping ground water?

          Gun point?

          Garden hose?

          • They divert a farmer’s water canals with a series of pumps, man made dams, and irrigation tubing. The farmers and residents called in complaints and action was taken. Our farmers and residents around Lake L.A. are important, as well as elsewhere.

    • Parris just wanted to see his pie hole in a bunch of publicity, Igor. He likes taking credit for things he has nothing to do with and he likes to blame others for situations that he has created. He’s a special kind of sleazy. Thanks to our LASO for their work.

    • FYI, for future reference, “Barger”, as in Kathryn Barger, is currently the Chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors… i.e. she IS a politician!

  17. Why was the U.S. Army involved?
    FYI weed is still illegal (can I use that word?) in this country. I don’t care, just saying.
    I do not vote vote for “leaders”, I vote for a representative. If you vote for a “leader” then you are just being good sheep.

    • Why was the army involved?

      Maybe because these cartels are notoriously violent. Look at the recent history south of the border. It might have been an idea for the Air Force to attend flying A-10s in close support

    • The men and women in camo are not Army. Fish and Game wears camo as a field uniform as well as many other police agencies in California. The US military does not fight the war on drugs in America thats what the DEA is for

      • The article quoted Vellanueva saying the U.S. Army

        Quote: “Also involved in the operation were the Drug Enforcement Administration, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, >>>>U.S. Army<<<<, and sheriff’s personnel from Riverside, Ventura, San Bernardino and Kern counties, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

  18. There must be a way to simulate the effects of ganja without actually smoking it. Actors do it.

    How about watching Fox News all day every day? That way you can know what it’s like to be stoned and trying to teach your cat to say its name.

    That’s what it looks like they’re doing when they interview Trump. Once I heard a clicker whenever he answered well. His neck is too stiff to make him follow a laser light.

    As I write he’s impersonating Arnold “I’ll be back!” Yeah, when Trump flies.

    • Hunter Biden should have been out there yesterday…..so he can roll up another blunt with cocaine in it, while spewing the ‘N’ word and strong arming more money from China for he and his daddy.

      Kamala Harris hasn’t been to the border yet….and she’s the pointman for this administration.

      Kamala serviced Willy Brown but she’s providing zero service to the US. I want a personal reach around from her.

      • And in all of the heads of people who believe he will be put in office in a few months. That must suck too.

        • And here we look deep into the sick and twisted mind of a TDS hyena.
          No cure has yet to be found for this demented condition.

          • Dear, dear Sonya.

            You do know that the Trump Derangement Syndrome is what Trump and his cult followers suffer from.

            There. Fixed it for ya.

            Don’t come back and try to tell that lie again. Now go teach your cat to say its name.

  19. These illegal growers are stealing tons of water from our local farmers, so whatever law enforcement needs to do to protect our residents and farmers. I saw this grow LASD razed; it was enormous, and that’s just one of many.

    • Just wondering if they ever will offer any legal grow licenses in the unincorporated areas? That would hold people more accountable. I know Lancaster issued ten licenses to grow. Actually, they weren’t issued. They were handed out to the Mayors good friends.! They were to reconsider issuing ten more licenses, if the original ten were manageable and worked out well. The people voted. We should be allowed to grow in the unincorporated area even if we’re not friends with Parris!!! Give the little people a chance to be legal, accountable, bonded and able to profit a little bit.

      • You can LEGALLY grow up to 6 plants and 6 plants only, for recreational use. That’s per County rules and regulations. You don’t need a license and you can check the Counties requirements on how to grow.

      • Wishful thinking Michelle. If Parris and the boys don’t get a cut, fat chance of you getting a permit. Funny how meth labs have been around for years but how many raids have you seen? Since these grows are in direct competition to the mayor’s friends, these raids happened.

    • Exactly how are they stealing water from farmers?

      So they get a water truck… then what?

  20. Thank You. Looking forward to breathing fresh air again and not boiling my water.

  21. Illegal grows are a scourge in this valley or anywhere else criminals decide set up. If the commenters obsessed with Rex Parris would take the time to learn about illegal grows and the devastation that’s caused, then you be somewhat relevant. No, I didn’t vote for Rex. There is a difference between legal and illegal, and there is a reason. Doesn’t matter what state you live in there are laws and regulations to abide by. BTW, Rex is mayor because Lancaster residents are too lazy to go to the polls.

  22. THOSE WERE THE DAYS – IN LAW ENFORCEMENT –

    POT PROHIBITION…

    NOW THAT IT’S LEGAL…

    SEEMS LIKE A HUGE WASTE OF MONEY TO TAKE SO MANY PEACE OFFICERS OUT TO BUST – INLICENSED – UNTAXED POT GROWS…

    WOULDN’T IT HAVE BEEN PRUDENT AND WAY MORE REASONABLE…

    THAN HELICOPTER ASSISTED SWAT TEAM RAIDS AND ARRESTS…

    TO SIMPLY HAVE THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA MARIJUANA LICENSING AND
    ENFORCEMENT BUREAU VISIT THE SCOFFLAWS AND OFFER THEM LICENSES…

    OR WAS THIS RECENT RAID MERELY A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE FOR THOSE OF
    OUR ELECTED LEADERS WHO ARE STILL ANTI-MARIJUANA EXTREMISTS..?

    • Just because some elected officials use to be in the distribution of the Devil’s Lettuce doesn’t mean they want to stop the next generation from keeping the tradition going, does it Ace?

      • These busts are to protect the friends who got the City permits to grow. I wonder how the profits are going on! Radio silence from our local media.

        • Didn’t the Vice Mayor lose his job selling pot at Plant 42 many years ago? Was a big deal at the time and on Gov. property is a big no no.

        • Are you suggesting that an illegal growth operation should be allowed to continue just because you don’t like the businesses who paid the city for permits/licenses to grow?

          Profits at the legal grow operations are going just fine. I am sure.

          By the way, part of the reason why government charges for a permit/license to do something legally, is so to afford itself the ability to regulate those operations according to a known set of rules. Includong but not limited to protecting those who follow the law from those who don’t, and to ensure its own ongoing revenue stream from those type of operations.

    • That is not how it works, son.

      You don’t start your grow operation and wait for the licensing authority to come to visit and to ask you to get a license.

      Nope! You get the license first, THEN you can start your grow operation.

    • Looked like 170th East between Palmdale Blvd and 138 by the POV of the mountains.

      Weed should be completely unregulated..

  24. How many of the 20 or so legal grow permits issued in Lancaster are either friends of Rex, donors to the Fern Street Mafia campaigns, or part of the good old boy network?

  25. THANK GOODNESS
    GET THESE LOSER CRIMINAL GANGSTER WANNABES OUT OF HERE AND WHERE THEY BELONG, ON THE GALLOWS

  26. Once the word gets out, these operations will just relocate to areas where there is less law enforcement presence.

  27. What a crock. “The largest operation in the history of the LASD”…targets people running unlicensed businesses because they are competing with Wrecks Parris. This wasn’t about “cartels” or “making the AV a safer place,” this was about the people who were cutting into the profits Wrecks and his cronies think they deserve from having a monopoly control on licensing.

    • One thing we know for certain about Wrecks. He hates competition. That’s why he ruins the lives of anyone who poses a threat to his iron clad rule. Now under the guise of law and order, he is laughing all the way to the bank.

      Does it get any more corrupt than what we see day in and ay out in Lancaster?