SAN FRANCISCO — A popular California outdoors writer was free on bail after authorities said Friday they found a large marijuana growing operation in his barn in the town of Weed.
Deputies served a search warrant on 55-year-old Tom Stienstra's home last week and found 60 plants and more than 11 pounds of processed marijuana, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said.
Stienstra was arrested for investigation of possessing marijuana for sale and released March 26 on $75,000 bail. His wife and two other men were also arrested.
Stienstra writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and appears regularly on Northern California radio and television stations. He is the author of more than 20 guidebooks and was twice named writer of the year by the Outdoor Writers Association of America, according to the biography on his Web site.
Deputies found medical marijuana recommendations for Stienstra, his wife and her 18-year-old son, who was not arrested, sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said.
Scales, packaging material and other paraphernalia were confiscated from Stienstra's barn and home, she said.
Messages left for Stienstra and his lawyer were not immediately returned.
Chronicle editor-in-cheif Ward Bushee said the newspaper knew little about the allegations against Stienstra and hoped the case was resolved quickly. In the meantime, the Chronicle would continue to publish his columns, Bushee said.
While not as well known as some other locales, Siskiyou County along the Oregon border is a major marijuana-growing hub in the state, with hundreds of thousands of plants seized there last year alone, according to the sheriff's office.
Source: The Associated Press
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