Sheriff Enlists Posse to Find Pot Farms

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday that it would enlist a civilian posse to help find and destroy marijuana plantations in the county’s back country.

Members of the sheriff’s mounted posse--50 civilians granted peace officer authority while on patrols--will ride the rugged areas of Los Padres National Forest the next several weeks, the prime harvest season for pot growers.

The posse typically is called out on search-and-rescue missions, but this is the first time the group is being used for drug interdiction.

A team of about 16 civilian and department riders went out on a nine-hour patrol Wednesday with Undersheriff Richard Bryce.

No plants were seen, but the team came up with some leads, and another trip is planned soon, Bryce said.

The department also plans to offer rewards of as much as $1,000 for information leading to the detection of a illegal pot farm. In the last two months, sheriff’s narcotics officers have uncovered five marijuana plots in rugged parkland north of Ojai.

Since finding the first field July 15, the team has destroyed about 18,000 plants.

Each plant is estimated to yield about one pound of high-grade marijuana worth about $4,000 a pound, authorities said.