UPPER LAKE ? Authorities confiscated more than $336,000 in cash, between 40 and 50 pounds of processed marijuana and 110 plants of various sizes Thursday morning at the Hillcrest Drive home of an Upper Lake couple.
A traffic stop at midnight Wednesday led Mendocino authorities to the home of Billy John Rainer, 55, and Connie Jeanette Rainer, 59, according to Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force Commander Robert Nishiyama. He said 15 shotguns and handguns were also found on the property, four or five of which were loaded.
“They had a brand-new tractor with a backhoe, two brand-new jet skis, a jet ski trailer, a brand-new car ? the usual accoutrements that people involved in the controlled substance trade spend their money on,” Nishiyama said.
The couple was arrested on charges of cultivating marijuana, possessing marijuana for sale and possessing firearms.
The three people arrested in the Mendocino County traffic stop are suspected of buying marijuana from the Upper Lake couple, according to Nishiyama. He said two cars were stopped, one containing more than $71,000 in cash, the other containing more than 100 pounds of processed marijuana that was packaged in one-pound increments.
“We backtracked the GPS (Global Positioning System) on the vehicle,” Nishiyama said.
The memory stored in the GPS device indicated the vehicle had been in the area of the Rainers” Upper Lake home, and the task force obtained a search warrant for the area.
The task force served the search warrant on two homes in the area at 11:30 a.m., including the Rainers” home and the neighboring home of medical marijuana advocate Eddy Lepp. Lepp said authorities from the Mendocino task force and Lake County Sheriff”s Office detained five people on his property and ignored proper search procedure.
“After two hours they released us, told they were very sorry and left. It sounds like they deliberately singled me out and harassed me just because they could,” Lepp said.
Lepp is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco Monday for sentencing after he was convicted in September of possessing more than 1,000 marijuana plants with the intent to distribute them.
Nishiyama said Lepp was not detained but “contacted,” and authorities did not confiscate anything from Lepp”s property.
“The judge gave us a warrant for an area, and Mr. Lepp”s property happened to cross the area we were in. Once we figured it out, we were fine,” Nishiyama said.
The investigation of the Rainers” case is ongoing, according to Nishiyama. He said questions or comments about the case should be directed to the Mendocino Major Crimes Task force at 463-4500.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
