LAKE COUNTY — The investigation of a suspicious vehicle parked in a remote area off of Highway 175 near the Mendocino County line on Thursday morning resulted in one arrest for marijuana and weapons charges and a five-hour multi-agency operation to search for two additional suspects.
At approximately 8:30 a.m. a detective sergeant with the Sheriff”s Narcotics Task Force was traveling out of county on Highway 175 when he saw a suspicious vehicle parked in a turnout approximately one-and-a-half miles from the Mendocino County line.
The vehicle, a Black Toyota Camry, was occupied by two men dressed in camouflage clothing and a third man dressed in camouflage clothing was standing near the car urinating.
When the detective sergeant stopped to contact the men, the man standing outside of the car immediately ran into the brush.
The detective sergeant drew his duty weapon and ordered the other two men in the car to raise their hands but the driver suddenly exited the car and also fled on foot into the brush in the same direction as the other.
The third man, seated in the back of the car was detained at gunpoint and the detective sergeant requested emergency assistance on his radio.
Multiple units from the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) responded to the area to assist the detective sergeant. As the first back-up units arrived at the scene, Malaquias Parras Ramirez, 41, of Santa Rosa was taken into custody. Sheriff”s deputies began posting themselves along the highway to try to contain the two outstanding suspects.
A search of the Toyota revealed several potted marijuana plants and a loaded handgun drawn from its holster on the floorboard where Ramirez had been sitting.
Additional resources were requested to respond, including a CHP helicopter, a law enforcement K-9 team from the U.S. Forest Service and agents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Once additional resources arrived, a ground team that included the United States Forest Service K-9 began tracking the mountainous area the two suspects fled into.
The K-9 led the team into a large gorge where they located a “drop site” where illegal marijuana growers had left numerous spools of drip line, bags of fittings, fertilizer and other supplies used for marijuana cultivation.
The team continued to follow fresh tracks beyond the drop site but after tracking the suspects for nearly a mile, the K-9 began to lose their scent and trail. At approximately 10:30 a.m., a CHP helicopter out of Redding arrived in the area to assist with the search of the suspects. Attempts to locate and apprehend the two outstanding suspects lasted until approximately noon at which time the operation was suspended. The ground team had tracked the suspects into such rugged terrain that they had to be extracted by the CHP helicopter.
Ramirez was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility where he was booked on charges of cultivating marijuana, transportation of marijuana, being armed in the commission of a felony and possession of a loaded firearm in public. He remains in the custody of the sheriff without bail because of an immigration hold. LCSO intends to seek federal prosecution of Ramirez, which could potentially result in a sentence of 10 years in federal prison for the crimes he is charged with.
It is believed that Ramirez and the other two suspects were interrupted by the detective sergeant while they were engaged in setting up a major illegal marijuana cultivation operation. Much of the mountainous area surrounding Highway 175 that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management has been host to such operations in past years.
The Lake County Sheriff”s Office, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service are continuing the investigation into this and other suspected cultivation operations as “Operation Full Court Press” nears. “Operation Full Court Press” is a multi-county, multi-agency; operation to eradicate illicit marijuana grows on federal lands.
