The two men caught July 8 tending to an illegal pot farm on Mount Hamilton are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 10 for their crimes. Both face up to two years in prison.
Saul Toledo, 20, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of marijuana cultivation with a firearm enhancement and to misdemeanor charges of water pollution and streambed diversion. Luis Herrera, 23, also pleaded guilty to the same charges (without the firearm enhancement) and will also admit probation violations.
The men were arrested and later charged with the crimes after Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies destroyed $22 million in marijuana plants. The large pot garden included 4,141 plants on private property just off of Mount Hamilton Road near the Lick Observatory.
Toledo was armed with a handgun. The two men, who are from San Jose, were living in a tent within the garden. They were charged with cultivation, possession for sales, and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. The state Department of Fish and Game is working on prosecution for several environmental crimes committed in and around the marijuana garden including pollution, poaching, and stream diversion.
The Marijuana Suppression Team is part of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Unit and consists of two full time deputies and a sergeant. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services funds most of the program. The mission of the program is to minimize marijuana availability through investigations, crop destruction, arrests, prosecutions of cultivators and traffickers, to deter cultivation and potential growing areas and to seize and initiate forfeiture of perpetrator’s assets.
Anyone having any information related to illegal indoor and/or outdoor marijuana gardens can call the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Eradication Team tip line at (408) 808-4420.
