A federal grand jury in Sacramento has indicted a Trinity County man on marijuana conspiracy and cultivation charges, months after a series of raids resulted in the seizure of more than 2,700 pot plants.
According to a criminal complaint, William Robert Barsanti, 26, who was indicted Thursday, bragged to local sheriff's deputies that he could beat any charges against him because he was protected under California's medical marijuana laws.
Trinity County authorities referred the case to federal prosecutors after 2,769 marijuana plants and five pounds of pot were seized in two raids in August and another in September on three properties owned by Barsanti, according to Sacramento U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.
Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Christopher DeFreece wrote in an affidavit that Barsanti, of Hayfork, told deputies who arrested him that he was a legal "caregiver" who was growing marijuana for 30 medical users in addition to supplying California dispensaries.
"Barsanti...stated that he would never be convicted of growing marijuana because six out ten people in Trinity County grow marijuana and that is who would be in the jury," DeFreece wrote. The DEA agent also wrote that "Barsanti continued to say that Trinitry County was a joke and he was going to beat the charges against him."
As a result of the federal indictment, he faces trial in Sacramento federal court.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.