Garberville raid yields three arrests, nearly 3,000 marijuana plants destroyed

Three people were arrested and nearly 3,000 marijuana plants were destroyed after Humboldt County Drug Task Force agents hit three Garberville-area properties tied to the same investigation. The sweep brought in the sheriff’s POP Team and Marijuana Enforcement Team, underscoring how aggressively county investigators are still moving against unlicensed commercial grows in southern Humboldt.

Agents served the search warrants on June 9 at the 400 block of Melville Road, the 900 block of Springview Lane and the 300 block of Twin Trees Road. At the Melville Road site, investigators said they found Ulises Roman Contreras and Aracely Motheral along with 28.82 pounds of processed marijuana, packing materials and a large amount of U.S. currency.

At Springview Lane, agents reported finding Marisa Capra with 229.3 pounds of processed marijuana, pay-and-owe sheets, packaging materials, industrial scales and additional cash. The seized paperwork and equipment suggested the operation was not a casual backyard grow but a distribution setup built to move product and track money.

The largest visible takedown came on Twin Trees Road, where agents located 2,075 marijuana clones and 421 growing plants that were eradicated. Witnesses in the Twin Trees and Benbow area reported multiple unmarked law-enforcement vehicles and a temporary road closure that morning, making the operation hard to miss in a part of southern Humboldt that has long lived with the footprint of the cannabis trade.

All three suspects were booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of maintaining a location to sell narcotics or controlled substances, possession of marijuana for sales, cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy. The booking charges were listed as HS11366, HS11359, HS11358 and PC182.

For Garberville, the raid landed in a place where cannabis has long been part of the local economy and where large-scale enforcement actions still carry immediate neighborhood impact. The mix of cash, processed marijuana, scales, pay-and-owe sheets and thousands of plants points to the kind of broader illegal-grow pattern county investigators continue to target across Southern Humboldt, not just an isolated stash site.