From the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:



On Tuesday, March 20, 2018, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies were in the Orick area serving a search warrant that was unrelated to controlled substances or cannabis. During the service of the warrant, deputies discovered a large concentrated cannabis manufacturing facility contained within a barn.

The property did not have a conditional use permit for manufacturing concentrated cannabis utilizing volatile chemical extraction methods. Deputies from the HCSO Drug Enforcement Unit obtained a search warrant to investigate the manufacturing facility. The Drug Enforcement Unit was assisted in this investigation by the following agencies: Humboldt County Drug Task Force, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Humboldt Bay Fire Arcata Fire HAZMAT, Humboldt County Environmental Health HAZMAT and Humboldt County Code Enforcement.

After rendering the facility and the manufacturing equipment safe, deputies located nine concentrated cannabis extractors that were utilizing butane and propane, as well as two extractors that were utilizing carbon dioxide in the extraction process. Deputies also located a facility that was utilizing ethanol to refine the concentrated cannabis.

Deputies seized 586 pounds of concentrated cannabis and 4,726 pounds of cannabis shake/trim from the site.

Manufacturing concentrated cannabis utilizing volatile chemical extraction methods without a county and state commercial cannabis permit is a felony under Health & Safety Code 11379.6(a). This case is still under investigation. All criminal violations stemming from this investigation will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s office for review. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office maintains a cooperative relationship with all agencies that participated in this investigation and all future investigations into non-compliant commercial cannabis operations will continue to be investigated in this manner.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.