A pair of alleged Putah Creek pot growers briefly eluded capture by law enforcement last week before being cornered by a California Department of Fish and Wildlife K9.
Agents arrested Ivan Cortez Perez, 19, and Jose Medina, 20, west of Winters on Wednesday on suspicion of felony crimes that include unlawful cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of a firearm while in commission of a felony.
A raid of their camp turned up 2,658 pot plants and about 10 pounds of processed marijuana.
Perez and Medina, tending the plants just after dawn, bolted at the approach of the agents, who lost the two for a time in hundreds of acres of dense brush and trees, Warden Mark Michilizzi said. A K9 named Kilo sniffed them out.
Illegal pot operations are a “recurring problem in that particular area,” he said. With them come illegal use of water, fertilizers and pesticides, as well as garbage-dumping.
“Many people don’t realize the extent of the environmental damage,” Michilizzi said.
Agents found a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun, as well as gasoline, several kinds of fertilizer and an illegal and highly toxic form of pesticide imported from Mexico.
On Friday, the two men remained listed as transients.
The Yolo Narcotic Enforcement Team led the raid, with help from the Mountain and Valley Marijuana Investigation Team and Fish and Wildlife.
