CA- 6 people found shot to death in remote desert area of El Mirage - Jan 2024 *ARRESTS*

[tlcya]

A 911 call from a Spanish-speaking man who said he had been shot but didn’t know his location drew law enforcement to the remote crime scene about 4 miles from Highway 395 near Shadow Mountain Road, the sheriff said. Dispatchers used cell phone data to locate the victims, the sheriff added.

All six suffered fatal gunshots, while four were also set ablaze by their attackers. One victim was found inside a bullet-riddled SUV. The man who called 911 walked a short distance away from the shooting scene before he died.
5 arrested in marijuana-related killings of 6 people near El Mirage in San Bernardino County desert

So no wellness check was requested, a victim called 911 after being shot and before succumbing to those injuries. The odds on this one held true, drug deal gone wrong.

 

[Herat]

A 911 call from a Spanish-speaking man who said he had been shot but didn’t know his location drew law enforcement to the remote crime scene about 4 miles from Highway 395 near Shadow Mountain Road, the sheriff said. Dispatchers used cell phone data to locate the victims, the sheriff added.

All six suffered fatal gunshots, while four were also set ablaze by their attackers. One victim was found inside a bullet-riddled SUV. The man who called 911 walked a short distance away from the shooting scene before he died.
5 arrested in marijuana-related killings of 6 people near El Mirage in San Bernardino County desert

So no wellness check was requested, a victim called 911 after being shot and before succumbing to those injuries. The odds on this one held true, drug deal gone wrong.

Do drug deals usually involve 5 to 6 people interacting with 5 or 6 other people together?

I agree drugs were involved, but my thinking is that this is an act of retribution for some act by the decedents. I would think perhaps most of them worked at a grow house associated with the perps and the decedents tried to steal or sell the product. An ambush is set up at the site where the sale was supposed to go down, and then the murders.

The perps then take off with the drugs.

 

[RickshawFan]

It's simple, they steal the water from hydrants or wells.

I still don’t understand. If there was underground water, plant roots would have found it, and there would be more flora?

 

[Herat]

I still don’t understand. If there was underground water, plant roots would have found it, and there would be more flora?

There is not enough surface water to grow crops.

The water is either trucked in from hydrants or wells, or pipes are illegally intercepted and broken into, and it is all drip irrigation. No one is going to blink an eye at water trucks going by.

Note that many of the El Mirage grow house enclosures are very close to a business that does wells digging and irrigation. What a co-incidence. They may be legit. I won't further comment on that.

A google search comes up with 8 well drilling type companies in the greater Victorville area, which includes businesses with addresses listed as Hesperia, Victorville, Adelanto, Kramer Junction, Apple Valley, Lucerne Valley, and Barstow There are another couple farther west out of Palmdale or Lancaster.

There is a lot of population growth in this region because it is "affordable" compared to other San Bernadino or Orange County property. A bedroom community, essentially. There is a tremendous need for water to supply all these new home developments.

Don't forget that the man who murdered the four McStays, Charles "Chase" Merrit, lived in Hesperia and commuted to the coast for his work. A tough 2 hour commute each way. He also buried the McStays in a place about 5 miles from his home. He could observe the region of the graves from the I-15 freeway on his commute.

Like I said, I have always hated the drive on 395 from the top of Cajon Pass to the Kramer Junction area and visa versa. Unfortunately, it's often a gas-up place for the trip from the Tahoe region to Orange County, Palm Springs area or San Diego. I always chose bigger places with branded gas, as they will have newer facilities and more CCTV cameras. I plan my trips so I don't drive through that region in the dark, even going so far as to stay overnight in Lone Pine or Bishop so I can drive fresh, in the daylight hours. It was a lot different 10 or 15 years ago, before the drug trade and general bad actors moved in. It's an area that feels full of menace, now, and I drive with a backup plan in place should there be trouble. I have driven down the other route from the high desert into the LA basin on Highway 14 via Mojave, Rosamond, Lancaster/ Palmdale. Mojave and Rosamond are really creepy and I have had trouble with creepy panhandlers and hangabouts at gas stations there. It also brings you right smack into the heavy LA commute so it's not ideal if your destination is farther south like Orange or San Diego County.

 

[Cedars]

There is not enough surface water for anything to grow.

The water is either trucked in from hydrants or well, or pipes are illegally intercepted and broken into.

Also, as discussed above, the greenhouses can counter-act the effect of dry air by creating an environment of high humidity, and, unlike the native soil, where a bucket of water disperses all through the ground, hydroponics or similar grow the roots directly in water, or nearly. Water isn't wasted wetting infertile soil (plus large amounts of fertilizers are given to produce fast growth).

What the southern desert has is abundant sunshine. Farther north, you have to try to use grow lights, which are massive consumers of electricity. Formerly, grow houses in more northern states used to steal power.

JMO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“We are confident that this appears to be a dispute over marijuana,” he said.

All the victims were likely shot to death and four of the bodies had been partially burned together, Warrick said. A fifth victim was found inside a Chevy Trailblazer, and the sixth was discovered the following day in the desert a short distance away, he said.

5 suspects arrested in 6 desert killings in dispute over marijuana

SAN BERNARDINO — Five people have been arrested in the investigation surrounding six bodies found last week at a remote dirt crossroads in the Southern California desert in a dispute

www.avpress.com

 

[Herat]

Also, as discussed above, the greenhouses can counter-act the effect of dry air by creating an environment of high humidity, and, unlike the native soil, where a bucket of water disperses all through the ground, hydroponics or similar grow the roots directly in water, or nearly. Water isn't wasted wetting infertile soil (plus large amounts of fertilizers are given to produce fast growth).

What the southern desert has is abundant sunshine. Farther north, you have to try to use grow lights, which are massive consumers of electricity. Formerly, grow houses in more northern states used to steal power.

JMO

Yes, abundant sunshine and heat. And very cheap labor.

 

[Herat]

Two very interesting articles in San Francisco Gate today about California marijuana:

Comments on the legal marijuana business and it's major decline

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/joe-montana-backed-company-selling-calif-pot-18635882.php

An illegal business that got busted:

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/fresno-golf-club-illegal-cannabis-business-18636169.php

 

[Cryptic]

I agree drugs were involved, but my thinking is that this is an act of retribution for some act by the decedents. I would think perhaps most of them worked at a grow house associated with the perps and the decedents tried to steal or sell the product. An ambush is set up at the site where the sale was supposed to go down, and then the murders.

Well said.

I can also see a dispute over say field and equipment "lease" terms and when payment for various labor was due.

 

[Cedars]

Okay, I just read the LA Times article on the topic, and I remain confused. 80% of marijuana sold in California is illegal?

I’m not seeing how that is possible or there being any causation between the legalization of marijuana and the proliferation of illegal grow ops in the high desert, unless these illegal grow ops are selling to the legal dispensaries.

In which case, that seems like a solvable problem. You don’t go after all the illegal grow ops, you instead go after the dispensaries. Audit them to determine the source of their product. They have to identify their source, the source has to verify. If the legal grow ops are struggling so much, they’ll be highly motivated to cooperate.

If the 80% stat is based on purchases by consumers rather than dispensaries, then my little bubble of California must be very atypical. Which is certainly possible, California is a big state. I just went onto Yelp and counted twenty marijuana dispensaries within one mile of me. (Obviously, I don’t think that’s a typical number of dispensaries for the average California neighborhood…we’re clearly special in that regard…but I nonetheless think it is indicative of the consumer demand for legal marijuana. Rents are high here.)

In my small community we have two busy liquor stores, where people pay high taxes/import duties, etc for alcohol (one is next to the gas station, where they similarly pay 50% in federal/provincial taxes and fees). There is one cannabis store in a low rent spot that I rarely see anyone parking near or going into.

Perhaps it's that, so far, few people are taking up cannabis now that it's legal, whereas the long-term and habitual consumers/that life-style/those cohorts, have always been comfortable with buying outside the law and see it as benign.

It's kind of like many people will pay cash under the table for people to work on their home or property, rather than hire a licensed, insured company that offers employee benefits.

I'm pretty sure there was a dealer on my street, and he would deliver, as well as be available for visits at all hours, which the pot store can't compete with - perhaps, also keeping prices significantly lower. (He seems not to be around or operating just lately, I'm not in on the gossip).

But I can see how there could be loyalties to dealers, smugglers, growers, all along the chain, that no wants to undermine by going legal. It puts them all out of work (easy money, too) and they are going to strongly resist that. What are they going to put on their resume to find a different type of job?

Unless it gets too dangerous, either being actually put in jail, or having your life threatened. That might be the main impetus to drive the actual, existing business into legalizing itself.

JMO

 

[Odeto BJ]

Cannabis plants are susceptible to microbes and fungus. Accelerated growth and high yields require some pretty high humidity conditions which encourages the bugs....But the environment where this occurred has been LOW humidity and low vegetative distribution for a long time, so there isn't nearly as much mold, microbe or fungal dissemination as there would be in areas of high vegetative density or high leaf shed per deciduous tree population. So to increase yield and quality the local plants are grown in controlled environments, not exactly indoors but in low pole barn type structures; and both the plant roots and the grow containment require a lot of water. See the growth techniques per accompanying...

The Growth Stages of Your Cannabis Plant — Elevated Botanist

The care and conditions required to germinate a seed, or root a clone are very different to conditions required to manage disease in late flower. Providing an ideal climate for each growth stage of your weed plant will improve performance by maintaining momentum from seed to harvest.

www.elevatedbotanist.com

Additionally: a year-old article indicates some of the economics involved...and the losses for the established growers. Notable is the temptation for the established and licensed grow industry to revert to the dark side. There is actually a surplus of legal grow in California because a great deal of the market throughout the States used to be supplied by a fairly small geographic area of CA and when those established growers went legal they no longer could sell to states where pot was not fully legalized....creating a supply void. At the same time: that market is shrinking as more states opt for complete legalization.
Additionally when those growers went legal a great deal of investment money became available and they responded by building bigger facilities and growing even more product. The article also indicates that in late 2022, there were a total of 1000 dispensaries across the state, for a population near 40MM and 13.4MM households. Not only is the legal price high, and the wholesale price low, but much of the state has to travel to purchase: so the guy on the corner becomes more attractive.

California’s Cannabis Sales Declined In 2022, The First Time Since Legalization

The state generated $5.3 billion in legal sales last year, an 8.2% drop from 2021 and the first since the adult-use market launched in 2018. Here’s what that means for New York and other states.

www.forbes.com

The Sheriff referred to the Title from 2018 and bemoans that illegal growing has become a misdemeanor...What it really means is that the enforcement burden shifted from State and Federal agencies to local; and the fines are not sufficient to discourage the large scale grow efforts.

There are a lot of factors in play here...And for CA particularly, the biggest one being the exhorbitant taxes collected at retail. Only cigarettes and liquor have similar levels of tax applied and the gray market sources for those were largely under control 75 years ago.

Implementing legalization will continue to be stressful at a number of levels until some politicians get past staring at the revenue stream and take recognition and responsibility for the social and economic ramifications.

Where and as applicable: MOO

 

[arielilane]

The six people found dead in California’s Mojave Desert last week were shot and killed in a dispute over marijuana, officials allege.

6 Men Found Dead in Mojave Desert Were Shot in Marijuana Dispute, Say Police

Five men have been arrested in connection with the homicide and four of the six victims have been identified.

people.com

Updated on January 30, 2024 02:42PM EST

 

[Herat]

Cannabis plants are susceptible to microbes and fungus. Accelerated growth and high yields require some pretty high humidity conditions which encourages the bugs....But the environment where this occurred has been LOW humidity and low vegetative distribution for a long time, so there isn't nearly as much mold, microbe or fungal dissemination as there would be in areas of high vegetative density or high leaf shed per deciduous tree population. So to increase yield and quality the local plants are grown in controlled environments, not exactly indoors but in low pole barn type structures; and both the plant roots and the grow containment require a lot of water. See the growth techniques per accompanying...

The Growth Stages of Your Cannabis Plant — Elevated Botanist

The care and conditions required to germinate a seed, or root a clone are very different to conditions required to manage disease in late flower. Providing an ideal climate for each growth stage of your weed plant will improve performance by maintaining momentum from seed to harvest.

www.elevatedbotanist.com

Additionally: a year-old article indicates some of the economics involved...and the losses for the established growers. Notable is the temptation for the established and licensed grow industry to revert to the dark side. There is actually a surplus of legal grow in California because a great deal of the market throughout the States used to be supplied by a fairly small geographic area of CA and when those established growers went legal they no longer could sell to states where pot was not fully legalized....creating a supply void. At the same time: that market is shrinking as more states opt for complete legalization.
Additionally when those growers went legal a great deal of investment money became available and they responded by building bigger facilities and growing even more product. The article also indicates that in late 2022, there were a total of 1000 dispensaries across the state, for a population near 40MM and 13.4MM households. Not only is the legal price high, and the wholesale price low, but much of the state has to travel to purchase: so the guy on the corner becomes more attractive.

California’s Cannabis Sales Declined In 2022, The First Time Since Legalization

The state generated $5.3 billion in legal sales last year, an 8.2% drop from 2021 and the first since the adult-use market launched in 2018. Here’s what that means for New York and other states.

www.forbes.com

The Sheriff referred to the Title from 2018 and bemoans that illegal growing has become a misdemeanor...What it really means is that the enforcement burden shifted from State and Federal agencies to local; and the fines are not sufficient to discourage the large scale grow efforts.

There are a lot of factors in play here...And for CA particularly, the biggest one being the exhorbitant taxes collected at retail. Only cigarettes and liquor have similar levels of tax applied and the gray market sources for those were largely under control 75 years ago.

Implementing legalization will continue to be stressful at a number of levels until some politicians get past staring at the revenue stream and take recognition and responsibility for the social and economic ramifications.

Where and as applicable: MOO

Excellent post, Odeto BJ

Has really improved my understanding of the differences and dynamics of legal vs illegal pot growing

 

[tlcya]

Do drug deals usually involve 5 to 6 people interacting with 5 or 6 other people together?

I agree drugs were involved, but my thinking is that this is an act of retribution for some act by the decedents. I would think perhaps most of them worked at a grow house associated with the perps and the decedents tried to steal or sell the product. An ambush is set up at the site where the sale was supposed to go down, and then the murders.

The perps then take off with the drugs.

I wouldn't know. However, all it takes is one group to go to a meet up thinking they will be meeting up with one or two individuals but the other individuals plan to rob the first group and have more people go or are there already lying in wait. shrug. all I know about drug dealers I learned on tv.

 

[OddOneOut]

I’m not understanding. Legal marijuana dispensaries are everywhere. Like, one on every block on the commercial streets in my California neighborhood. I have to assume they’re sourcing their products from legal grow ops and have the consumer demand to stay open. How would that *increase* the demand for illegal marijuana? My assumption would be the demand is coming from consumers in other states.

From the consumer side in states with legal marijuana, I would hope it’s only a small (stupid) minority who think it is worthwhile to get involved in the illegal drug trade by buying marijuana produced and/or distributed by cartels, just to save a few dollars. Legal marijuana isn’t expensive to begin with. How many are willing to risk their lives to save tens of dollars?

I don't have a link so consider this a combination of rumour and JMO. Here in Ohio, when marijuana was made legal, there were restrictions on it. Reports I've heard are that much of the "illegal marijuana" is in a highly concentrated form which is still illegal here. The concentrated form is not what was sold in the 1960s. It is very toxic and can have serious medical consequences. Addicts of the concentrated form can't grow, produce, sell, or buy it; therefore, the illegal growing is still going on. Some of the "illegal marijuana" is also cut with other drugs.

 

[cvaldez1975]

It was over marijuana!

pot rip..... and the dead and suspects all had relatives.

also interesting that one of the victims did indeed call for help.

 

[Cedars]

pot rip..... and the dead and suspects all had relatives.

also interesting that one of the victims did indeed call for help.

Yes, I was thinking about that, too.

It seems the guys who were attacked were completely surprised, they weren't carrying any weapons themselves.

I'm also interested how police seemly emphasized they had 'all' the perpetrators. Normally, isn't there some kind of higher-up(s) who orders the killings, supply the weapons, etc, but don't put themselves at risk...

Maybe this was just a rogue group...
JMO

 

[Herat]

Yes, I was thinking about that, too.

It seems the guys who were attacked were completely surprised, they weren't carrying any weapons themselves.

I'm also interested how police seemly emphasized they had 'all' the perpetrators. Normally, isn't there some kind of higher-up(s) who orders the killings, supply the weapons, etc, but don't put themselves at risk...

Maybe this was just a rogue group...
JMO

The lack of weapons by the victims supports the theory these were revenge killings, rather than a deal where $$$ and drugs were to be exchanged.

IMHO.

 

[Jo in Calif]

The Major Crimes Unit of the DA’s Office laid out a series of grave charges against the suspects: Toniel Baez-Duarte, aged 35, and Jose Nicolas Hernandez-Sarabia, 33, were met with six counts of first-degree murder, and multiple charges of robbery, with Hernandez-Sarabia facing additional allegations regarding firearm use in commission of the crimes.


Similarly, Mateo Beaz Duarte, 24, is confronted with charges echoing those of Hernandez-Sarabia, with a focus on the murder, robbery, and firearm-related counts. Jose Gregorgio Hernandez-Sarabia, 36, and Jose Manuel Burgos Parra, 26, face corresponding charges for their alleged involvement in the violent acts.

San Bernardino County DA Files Charges in Mass Murder Case Linked to Illegal Marijuana Operations in Mojave Desert

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY (VVNG.com) – On January 30, 2024, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office escalated its legal response, indicting five men in relation to a chilling mass murder case that unfolded in the desolate stretches near Adelanto. The victims were discovered on January...

www.vvng.com

 

[Jo in Calif]

Danger in the Desert: Murder of 6 puts focus back on illegal marijuana grows in the Inland Empire

The I-Team has covered the ongoing problems with illicit marijuana grows since 2021 when the number of illegal operations was above 1,400. That number has dropped to about 300, but the challenges remain.

www.nbclosangeles.com