While another attempt to legalize marijuana looks like it will be headed to California voters in November 2012, see Contra Costa Times, 6/24/11,
A man who tried to make Oakland into a center for growing medical marijuana was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of running illegal pot farms in Sacramento and Sutter County with thousands of plants, federal authorities said.
Yan Ebyam, 33, was arrested Tuesday in Sacramento and has since been released on a $150,000 property bond, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento. Eleven other people allegedly involved in various aspects of growing and processing the marijuana also were arrested.
Ebyam is a controversial figure in Oakland, where he converted large warehouses into medical pot production centers and even hired unionized workers. His above-board business there, however, reportedly fell apart last year after thefts, financial problems and pressure from federal authorities on the city to stop allowing such facilities.
The criminal complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Sacramento describes massive marijuana-growing efforts at a former tomato farm in Rio Oso in Sutter County and at a former wholesale commercial florist in Sacramento.
LA Times, 6/24/11. For more on Ebyam and his failed attempts to grow a medical marijuana empire in Oakland, see "Entrepreneur's Ambitious Plans Go Up In Smoke," NY Times, 5/22/11 and "The Rise and Fall of an Oakland Potpreneur," Bay Citizen, 5/21/11.