Reporter, 4 others held in pot case

A Ukiah Daily Journal reporter, his fiancee, and her brother, mother and father were arrested Thursday on suspicion of conspiring to grow and sell marijuana, law enforcement reported.

Zack Sampsel, 26, Shannon Wickliffe, 24, Nathaniel Wickliffe, 29, Kathy Wickliffe, 52, and Terrence Wickliffe, 50, were being booked into the Mendocino County jail on Thursday evening, authorities said.

They were arrested following a three-week investigation, said Bob Nishiyama, commander of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Major Crimes Task Force.

The family, which moved to Ukiah from Indiana a little more than a year ago, is suspected of growing marijuana in multiple locations along with a sixth, unidentified suspect, he said.

Nishiyama said officers found about 7 pounds of processed marijuana at the Fir Terrace Drive home of Terrence and Kathy Wickliffe, 6 to 8 pounds of processed marijuana at Nathaniel Wickliffe's Observatory Avenue home, 250 plants at an uninhabited apartment on Observatory Avenue and 50 budding plants at the Tedford Avenue home Sampsel shared with Shannon Wickliffe.

-- Glenda Anderson