Illegal Marijuana Grow Operation in Willamette Valley Busted

Estimated value of the marijuana plants, had they been allowed to reach maturity, is approximately $1.8 million dollars.

A man, living in the United States illegally, has been arrested while he was tending to a large scale marijuana grow operation in rural Linn County. Photo Courtesy: Linn County Sheriff

(ALBANY, Ore. ) - A man living in the United States illegally, has been arrested while he was tending to a large scale marijuana grow operation in rural Linn County.

On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., Linn County Sheriff's Deputies arrested 47-year-old Louis Alfonso Arellano-Arellano at the grow site located on private timber land owned by Weyerhaeuser Company Inc. in the Lacomb area.

Linn County Sheriff's Bruce Riley said detectives determined that Arellano-Arellano was living in, and tending to the marijuana grow site.

The large marijuana growing operation caused damage to the surrounding land, and to the local streams by the cutting of small trees and brush, depositing trash, and littering the area with chemicals and irrigation tubing.

Detectives seized 1,874 marijuana plants from three different growing plots. The grow site contained a hybrid marijuana strain.

This type of marijuana plant produces a much smaller and thinner plant by maturing at a faster rate, making the growing season much shorter. The estimated value of the marijuana plants if allowed to reach maturity is approximately $1.8 million dollars, Riley said

Arellano-Arellano was lodged in the Linn County Jail, and was charged with Unlawful Manufacture of Marijuana, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, Criminal Mischief II, Criminal Trespass II, and Littering in or near waterways.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined Arellano is in the United States illegally, and have placed a hold on him.

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