The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office:
On 11-27-2020 at 7:05 AM Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an armed robbery at a reported permitted cannabis farm in the 12000 block of Pratt Ranch Road in Hopland, California.
Upon arrival Deputies contacted an adult male who was working as an unarmed security guard at the cannabis farm owned by a Los Angeles area company, at the time of the armed robbery.
Deputies learned the security guard was seated inside his vehicle on the farm’s property on 11-27-2020 at approximately 5:45 AM when a newer model black GMC SUV arrived and parked close to his vehicle.
An unknown adult male exited the GMC SUV and contacted the security guard who lowered his drivers window.
The unknown adult male was dressed in gray sweatpants, a gray sweatshirt and was wearing a mask. The unknown adult male pointed and pressed a handgun against the security guard’s head while demanding information on the location of cannabis/marijuana and money.
The security guard was unable to provide any such information which caused the unknown adult male to threaten to “kill” the security guard.
The security guard fearing for his life turned over several keys for locked containers on the property.
At this point three other unknown adult males appeared from the GMC SUV. These individuals were all wearing black clothing and masks.
The four unknown adult males used the keys and also forced entry into several locked containers ultimately finding a large amount of processed cannabis/marijuana.
The four unknown adult males loaded several hundreds pounds of the processed cannabis/marijuana into the GMC SUV and the security guard’s 2014 Kia Soul sedan.
The four unknown adult males then fled the cannabis farm in both vehicles at approximately 6:20 AM while the security guard remained on the property.
The security guard believed all four unknown adult males were Hispanic based upon the sound of their voices.
An immediate search of the area did not yield any signs/evidence of vehicles or unknown adult male suspects.
On 11-27-2020 at approximately 5:21 PM the Ukiah Police Department located the stolen 2014 Kia Soul sedan unoccupied in a business parking lot in the city of Ukiah.
Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies are continuing investigations into the reported incident.
Anyone with information that could assist Deputies is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office Tipline by calling 707-234-2100 or the WeTip anonymous crime reporting hotline by calling 800-782-7463.
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