Dozens of human trafficking victims were forced to work on an illegal marijuana operation while living in “horrible conditions”, California authorities said.
The Merced county sheriff’s office in the state’s Central valley this week found 60 people, including men, women and at least one child, at an operation. The group arrived several days earlier and was promised good-paying jobs and a place to stay, law enforcement said in a statement.
“Once there, they were forced to process marijuana while staying in horrible living conditions to pay back the individuals that brought them across the border,” the statement continued, without giving details on those conditions.
California legalized marijuana in 2016, bringing a once clandestine industry into the mainstream, and now has dispensaries across much of the state along with delivery services and cannabis cafes. But the illicit market has continued to thrive as growers seek to avoid high tax rates paid by legal cannabis businesses.
Workers often face perilous conditions and exploitation in the marijuana industry. An investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that the largely immigrant workforce are “subjected to abuse, wage theft, threats of violence and squalid and hazardous conditions”. Earlier this year, the state created a team dedicated to addressing cannabis related labor trafficking.
In Merced county, deputies served a search warrant on Wednesday afternoon at a site on unincorporated land near the city of Merced and discovered the operation. Images posted online by the Merced county sheriff’s office showed trays, bags and boxes stuffed with what looked to be marijuana in a run-down interior space with ceilings that appeared to be collapsing.
“We literally have thousands of pounds of finished marijuana from an illegal grow and illegal source,” Warnke said in a video.
“These folks are indentured, they owe money … they’re scared to death,” Warnke said. “It’s heart-wrenching. So we’re going to try and take care of these folks,” he added.
Authorities did not disclose their countries of origin.
Three goats and two dogs that were not being cared for adequately were also rescued, according to the statement.
No arrests were made but investigators were “working tirelessly to find the individuals responsible”, the sheriff’s office said.
The men and women forced to work on the property have been connected to resources, the sheriff’s office said, and are not facing charges.
“They’re victims in this and it’s an active investigation,” a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told the Merced Sun Star.
