Two men have been arrested in connection with the July 14 burglary of The Green Heart medical marijuana collective, in which approximately $10,000 worth of pot, cash and supplies were stolen.
Thanks to tips from the community and an investigation involving several law enforcement agencies, 21 year old Guillermo Gonzalez of Yreka and 32 year old Montague resident Michael Dowdy were arrested earlier this month, said Mount Shasta Police sargeant Joe Restine.
Dowdy was arrested at his residence on Aug. 3 after the MSPD, the Siskiyou County Special Investigations Unit and the Siskiyou County Interagency Narcotics Task Force served a search warrant at his home.
Officers recovered property taken from The Green Heart during the burglary and found equipment which was used to commit the crime, Restine said.
The search warrant was the result of a tip from the community regarding a gifted pipe which was thought to be one of the pieces stolen from the collective, said Restine.
Finding and arresting Gonzalez took a little more work, Restine said.
“A few days after the burglary, Gonzalez was arrested in Sacramento by the CHP for possession of concentrated cannabis, or hash,” he said. “This tipped us off because hash was one of the things taken from the Green Heart during the burglary.”
In addition, Gonzalez’s name was provided to authorities after someone recognized his face from surveillance footage taken during the burglary, Restine said.
Though Gonzalez was identified as a suspect, authorities were unable to locate him after his release in Sacramento.
However, Gonzalez was located while spending time at the Siskiyou County Fair on Aug. 11, where he was arrested, Restine said.
Both men were booked into Siskiyou County Jail, charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary. They have both been released with future court dates.
Restine said he is pleased with the progress made in the case. He also said that one other suspect has been identified and that charges will be filed against a third individual.
“It’s awesome,” said collective owner Gina Munday regarding the arrests. “We were very impressed with the professionalism of everyone involved with the investigation... we were really treated with respect.”
“We feel good about the outcome,” Restine said. “Some people don’t consider this crime as serious, because it happened at a pot collective... but we take it very seriously.”
The level of sophistication used during the burglary are also disturbing, Restine added.
“These men obviously planned this crime carefully,” Restine said. “They worked together, wore disguises and defeated an alarm system. If they can do this at a pot collective, they can do it at other businesses.”
Restine added that he’s grateful for the cooperation of the community, who provided two tips that both panned out, as well as the help of the SIU and SCINTF.
“For a department who, for the most part, only has one officer on at a time, I feel we did a good job... this was a complicated investigation.”
