Man in Pope Valley Arrested on Pot, Weapons Charges

The Napa Special Investigations Bureau arrested a man Wednesday on marijuana charges after plants were discovered growing in Pope Valley.

Aleksander Allen, 21, who recently moved to California from New Jersey, was growing marijuana on two properties in the area of Butts Canyon and Snell Valley roads in Napa County, NSIB Lt. Gary Pitkin said.

Allen was living in a residence in the 100 block of Spur Court in the Berryessa Estates subdivision of Pope Valley. More than 4,000 acres in that area were burned in a wildfire that started on July 1.

The plants were detected during an aerial flight by the NSIB over rural Napa County on July 8, Pitkin said. Allen ran inside his residence when the NSIB agents arrived to search his house Wednesday.

The agents forced their way inside and detained Allen and two other 21-year-old residents, Pitkin said.

The agents found a butane honey oil drug lab, several pounds of processed marijuana, marijuana plants in the backyard, drug packaging materials, a digital scale, a handgun, two shotguns and a rifle, Pitkin said.

Narcotics agents found more marijuana nearby at an unimproved property Allen was leasing, and the agents eradicated 58 plants on both properties, Pitkin said.

Allen was arrested and booked in the Napa County Detention Center for manufacturing a controlled substance, cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, being armed in a commission of a felony and resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

The Napa County District Attorney's Office will decide if marijuana charges will be filed against the two other people who were at the Spur Court residence, Pitkin said.

The Napa Special Investigations Bureau has destroyed more than 60,000 marijuana plants this year, and the growing season runs through the end of September, Pitkin said.

--Bay City News