Employees assaulted and tied up during marijuana grow robbery in Monterey County

Money, marijuana and guns were stolen from a Monterey County marijuana grow over the weekend.

Monterey County Sheriffs deputies are looking for the suspects who tied up and assaulted several of the people on the property before robbing them.

The grow is considered legal since they were in the process of getting their permit.

Sheriff Steve Bernal says, “We think three to five suspects broke into the house and they taped and bound two subjects in the house with duct tape and three additional victims in the warehouse area, they bound and assaulted them.”

The property is off of Potter Road just south of Salinas. The robbery happened around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday.

There is also a home on the property aside from the marijuana grow. Sheriff Bernal saId five firearms that were at the house, about ten thousand dollars in cash and approximately $300,000 worth of marijuana were taken.

We’re told the guns and cash were not part of the grow, they belonged to someone in the residence.

Cannabis attorney Aaron Johnson says several aspects of this case point to someone knowing a great deal about the property. “With the level of what had happened over the weekend, all indications are that they were more than just an average employee.”

Johnson also says it highlights the need for proper security in this industry. “We need to take better security measures, of the operations out there and make sure security plans are followed. Everybody should be updating their security plan based on what we’re learning from this incident.”