Hank Sims

Here. Officials said the raids did not involve legitimate medical marijuana clinics or growing operations, which are allowed under state law but not recognized by federal agencies. “Medicinal marijuana is supposed to be medicine and not a large-scale business operation,” said narcotics bureau spokeswoman Sara Simpson. “When large quantities of cash begin to change hands, […]

The Eureka Reporter puts name to face.

Lt. George Cavinta from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s office tells the Journal that the FBI action will not end today; there’ll be at least a few more days of action to follow. There are apparently 29 warrants to serve, Cavinta said — 27 federal and two state. They’ve only done a few of them so […]

The bulk of the action seems to be down there. Kym K has a photo of agents in Salmon Creek. Eric Kirk is monitoring KMUD. Busts in Redway, including one witnessed by Eric himself. Also there’s apparently a good deal of action out near Whale Gulch.

An indoor grow is being broken up in Sunny Brae right now. To reiterate, the FBI insists that this operation is targeting a single individual or group of individuals, and is not an all-purpose sweep of grow houses. UPDATE, 9:31 a.m. : Bob Doran is at 1658 Virginia Way, Arcata, where three federal agents in […]

… a FBI spokesperson on the ground in Fortuna just spoke with John Matthews on KSLG. He said: This is the culmination of a two-year investigation. This is a bust of “large-scale commercial grows.” NOT medical marijuana. Agents from a variety of federal and state organizations — including the IRS and the Postal Service –will […]

“I’m not in a position to make a comment right now because the operation is underway,” says Lt. George Cavinta of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. “The FBI has the command post, and it’s all the FBI’s warrants.” Cavinta said that someone — either his office or the FBI — will likely make a statement […]

These screengrabs don’t quite do it justice, but they’re all ready to roll down there at the River Lodge. 5:40 a.m. UPDATE, 6:05 a.m. : They’ve moved out. UPDATE, 8:26 a.m. : See here .

Something is definitely happening. There’s a whole bunch of tight-lipped people at the Fortuna River Lodge right now. They’ve got satellite trucks. (Check the web cam here .) John Matthews of KHUM went down to try to get people to talk this afternoon; he was unsuccessful. But they did check his ID. Supervisor Johanna Rodoni […]