Arrests in pot raid

UKIAH — Seven people were in custody Thursday after drug agents from Mendocino, Sonoma and Shasta counties raided a large indoor marijuana growing operation at a remote ranch along the Eel River near Dos Rios.

Mendocino County Sheriff Lt. Kurt Smallcomb said 5,275 pot plants ranging in size from seedlings to mature plants with buds were found growing in a converted barn at the site in northeast Mendocino County in an area known as Eight Mile Bridge.

Smallcomb said that when the multi-county task force converged on the site early Wednesday morning with search warrants, two suspects grabbed three small children and tried to flee in a Jeep vehicle. They were captured after a chase downhill through rough terrain to the Eel River, he said.

He said agents arrested Kite Isaac Finds the Feather, 29, and Amanda Lee Wood, 28. The three children, ages 2, 5, and 6, were turned over to the county’s child protective services agency, he said.

Smallcomb said Finds the Feather tried to hide a loaded handgun at the spot where he was arrested.

The raid began at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and ended with the arrests of five suspects believed to have been employed by the marijuana growing operation. Smallcomb said the five men were being held today in Mendocino County Jail on U.S. immigration holds.

Find the Feathers and Wood were being held in lieu of $500,000 bail each. Smallcomb said they were booked on charges of suspicion of marijuana cultivation, possession of marijuana for sale, child endangerment, and being armed in the commission of a felony.