"I knew it was a matter of time before those in the dope-growing community were going to start putting up a fuss. They don't like the prying eyes," Hamilton said. "You've got half the community that doesn't want it, and the other half that does."
Enforcement issues
Over the summer, Hamilton received tips that the young men he'd found raising marijuana on a hillside, supposedly for medical purposes, had been firing warning shots to scare off people who came near their plot, including two tourists interested in a nearby property for sale.
So he made a return visit in September. Hamilton said the caretaker, Joseph Florence, 20, was armed with a .22-caliber rifle and was wearing a military-style camouflage suit. It turned out he was wanted in Maryland for alleged methamphetamine distribution.
Hamilton saw that the marijuana plants had grown a lot since July. He measured them. The square-footage was three times what county regulations allow for the number of medical-marijuana cards the men had posted. A sheriff's eradication team uprooted the plants.
Florence was taken into custody, to be returned to Maryland. Hamilton has turned over his case file on the other men to the district attorney's office. But there are many bigger growers in Humboldt, and county government is spread thin.
"I don't believe anything will come of it," Hamilton said.
In Humboldt, the loss of the pot is often the punishment.
sam.quinones@latimes.com
