Pinkerton wannabes attacking pot farms

They wear camouflaged uniforms, bearing military-style insignia. They ride helicopters over the forests of Mendocino County, Calif., on the state's north coast, equipped with firearms, where they cut down illegal marijuana. But they aren't the army. They aren't even the police. They are Lear Asset Management, a private security firm that is attracting a lot of attention for the work it's doing -- and even perhaps some work it hasn't done KCBS in San Francisco described them as "mysterious men dropping from helicopters to chop down" pot plants. Rumors swirl in the area's marijuana community about heavily armed men choppering onto their private land and cutting down their marijuana plants without identifying themselves or answering questions about who they are.

Lear has become a boogeyman of sorts for a certain population in northern California. But they aren't hiding. Paul Trouette, Lear Asset Management's 55-year-old founder, spoke with TPM for more than 30 minutes earlier this week to describe what his company does and why they do it. They see themselves filling a void that law enforcement cannot. Trouette at one point invoked the Pinkertons -- the private detective agency notorious for, among other things, violently busting unions and chasing Wild West outlaws -- to demonstrate the historical precedent for what they're now doing in this county of 88,000 on the edge of the California Redwoods.

source



Wow, I bet these folks fancy themselves heroes. A new breed of BS coming down the line. I think they should be arrested for trespassing and destruction of property personally. How long will it be before they start shooting people? Nothing could possibly go wrong with this.

I wonder if this is a black budget operation.

Destroy the evil plants!
Can you imagine these guys dropping from the sky and going rambo on a bunch of plants? F-ing hilarious really.

My God! Pot! The Lear soldiers screamed as they go to the bar to get drunk and cause trouble.

Paul Trouette, Lear Asset Management's 55-year-old founder, spoke with TPM for more than 30 minutes earlier this week to describe what his company does and why they do it. They see themselves filling a void that law enforcement cannot.

DONKEY BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sorry, you mean the drug industry paid you to go do that so that's why you are doing it. $$$$$$$ KA-CHING!


No elfin way, people are doing this out of the "goodness" of their hearts. (*Mind you, why cutting down medicine that eases the pain of terminally ill cancer patients, MS patients, etc, would be "good" is beyond me*)


I haven't even looked into it, but I'd bet my left hand its pharma financing it. Helicopters and guns don't come cheap...

a reply to: boncho

That's the main center of this story - who is financing these "Halliburton"-type contractors. All the more reason California should get well organized for their next vote on this issue (2016?).

a reply to: Aleister

Nothing will change until some celebrity's garden is hacked down. Of course that won't happen, only little people get trampled on.

originally posted by: boncho

Paul Trouette, Lear Asset Management's 55-year-old founder, spoke with TPM for more than 30 minutes earlier this week to describe what his company does and why they do it. They see themselves filling a void that law enforcement cannot.

DONKEY BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sorry, you mean the drug industry paid you to go do that so that's why you are doing it. $$$$$$$ KA-CHING!


No elfin way, people are doing this out of the "goodness" of their hearts. (*Mind you, why cutting down medicine that eases the pain of terminally ill cancer patients, MS patients, etc, would be "good" is beyond me*)


I haven't even looked into it, but I'd bet my left hand its pharma financing it. Helicopters and guns don't come cheap...

They are Lear Asset Management, a private security firm

that line says it all... ASSET MANAGEMENT

This article here, says that they are hired by landowners for illegal operations, and sometimes contracted by the police.

Hmm...

I still wonder if since then news of them has spread and reached bigger industries that would hire them simply to kill out competition.

Of course if someone is doing it on property that isn't there own, they should have someone to turn to, to remove it. However, if it is a medical operation to me, that is a crime in itself.

If they actually want to help the human race by eliminating a substance that actually causes injury, then they should focus on alcohol. I think one would have to be quite dense to argue that marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol. The fact that alcohol is legal while this plant is outlawed goes to the very core of the problems with our laws. I don't know what the laws are in that state, but I think that legal growers should defend their livelihood. Illegal growers don't have any recourse through the justice system imo.

But is it not true that the majority of illegal growing in California takes place by cartels within the forests? That is what I've read anyway. Thus if this idiotic group were going into the forest to chop down illegal plants, would this be private or public property? I don't know much about the laws of California, or how much public vs private property there is. I know in my state virtually everything is private property, and there are multiple instances when you are within your right to respond with deadly force. For instance, unless the laws have been changed in the recent past, you can actually shoot someone who has come onto your property at night with the intent to burglarize or steal from you, even if they are actively fleeing. I'm relatively certain they have to have your property in their possession however. It is not a far cry from shooting someone who has trespassed onto your property and is destroying your possessions.

But this is not to say that I believe all issues should be resolved by such harsh measures. The use of deadly force should be a last resort in all instances in my opinion. But there are many facets to this case. Even if a person is not legally allowed to grow the plants, this does not matter, and here is why: a private and armed force fast-ropes or lands their helicopter onto your private property, and again they armed with machetes at the very least, but probably have firearms, therefore you have every right to use force to protect yourself. OBVIOUSLY anyone would feel threatened in such a situation.

The law should be the ones to do something first, but if they will do nothing then the people have but two choices: to allow this to continue or to stop these morons in the act. If these people are landing on private property, even if the plants were illegal, there has to be some crime committed. And we know who the perpetrators are. People are not supposed to take the law into their own hands, as this completely undermines the justice system, even if these people are trying to help. It just doesn't work that way, and as such they should be held responsible for the crimes they've committed. Two wrongs don't make a right, as they say.

I just find it hypocritical that a group would do this because of the legal status of marijuana, yet they break the law to "help" law enforcement. Their intentions don't really matter to be honest. All that matters is whether they've broken the law. I think there are numerous charges that could be levied against this group, but we will see what happens.

Great. Now LE is hiring mercenaries within our own country to harrass and carry out their dirty work? On a bunch of hippies to boot. This smells like something the DEA might cook up.

This has to be illegal. This isn't the wild west anymore. As bad as I feel to say this, I do hope that something happens, and this blows up in a big way.

It's only a matter of time until these cop wannabes start winding up getting shot. Sooner or later they will go in a try to cut down somebody's legal grow and the shots will start flying. I know if they were to come on my land and try to cut down my legal grow I would shoot them in a heartbeat.

a reply to: buster2010

I was thinking the same thing. All they need is to run into some rural people who have common sense and they'd end their night with a hole through the chest.

Are these "soldiers" drug tested? If not they're hypocrites.

All this over a damn plant?? They'll enter the wrong property and somebody will canoe their heads.

a reply to: theyknowwhoyouare
I am not advocating violence but someone will shoot these folks for trespassing on private property. I know I would.

a reply to: Fylgje

Exactly. All this over a medication. They really don't want people being enlightened do they?

originally posted by: buster2010
It's only a matter of time until these cop wannabes start winding up getting shot. Sooner or later they will go in a try to cut down somebody's legal grow and the shots will start flying. I know if they were to come on my land and try to cut down my legal grow I would shoot them in a heartbeat.

Exactly what I was thinking.

So.. what are they doing with the plants once chopped down? taking it away? burning it?

If they are in possession of it, why are they not being charged with possession ?

typical insane god forsaken immoral madness...

Can I just walk up to a crop, take a few plants and if apprehended say "But sir I was disposing it, I'm a good guy." ?

You bet I cant...

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: boncho

That's the main center of this story - who is financing these "Halliburton"-type contractors. All the more reason California should get well organized for their next vote on this issue (2016?).

It's looking like it:
Marijuana legalization effort begins in California