UPDATE-SEARCH WARRANT EXECUTED ON ILLEGAL MARIJUANA CULTIVATION OPERATION

Josephine Co. Sheriff's Office

This is an update to the flash alert sent out Tuesday August 17th, 2021 regarding the search warrants served at the Q Bar X Ranch in Kerby, Oregon.  As a result of the search warrants, interviews were conducted with 200 workers at the sites.  As expected, the workers relayed no concerns of humanitarian violations.  According to the Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, this is a common occurrence.  The workers may be in fear of retaliation to themselves or family members, not being paid and immigration status concerns among others.  All workers were allowed to leave the property or stay on their own free will.

At the conclusion of the operation, 10 firearms and $140,000 in cash were seized, 72,283 marijuana plants were destroyed along with 6,000 pounds of processed marijuana.  373 green houses were also destroyed.

While no arrests have yet been made, this investigation is ongoing.  As well, the property is being filed for civil forfeiture of a criminal operation.