3 Charged With Attempted Murder Of Pot Farm Worker Near Santa Rosa
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- Three men were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and kidnapping after they allegedly tied up and beat a man at a marijuana farm northeast of Santa Rosa on Sunday, a Sonoma County sheriff's sergeant said.
The 43-year-old victim said he was the former head marijuana grower at the farm in the 6500 block of St. Helena Road but he recently was replaced by one of the three suspects, Moises Calvillo-Chavez, 34, of El Cajon in San Diego County, Sgt. Spencer Crum said.
The victim said he and Calvillo-Chavez had ongoing disagreements over the past week as he taught Calvillo-Chavez the business, and he moved off the St. Helena Road property to stay at a neighbor's home, Crum said.
The two men had a disagreement and exchanged mutual threats during a phone conversation around 2 a.m. Sunday, and Calvillo-Chavez showed up in a truck with two other men, Chad Michael Canup, 22, of Garberville, and Salvador Martinez, 22, of Lakeside in San Diego County, Crum said.
Calvillo-Chavez pointed a .22-caliber rifle at the victim and tried to shoot him but the gun malfunctioned. Calvillo-Chavez then hit the victim in the head with the stock of the gun, and the three men repeatedly hit and kicked the victim in the head when he fell to the ground, Crum said.
The men tied the victim's hands and ankles with a thin rope, threw him in the victim's truck and drove to the main house on the property. The assailants bound the victim to a chair with duct tape and interrogated him for several hours, the sergeant said.
When the three men left, the victim was able to break the chair and escape by running barefoot to the street.
Calvillo-Chavez called the sheriff's office around 7:30 a.m. and said the former head grower of the farm was going crazy and had to be tied to a chair but he let him go, Crum said.
Deputies responded and found the victim walking barefoot in the road. The victim had an arm from a broken wooden chair taped to his arm with duct tape and had abrasions to his arms and ankles from duct tape, according to Crum.
Paramedics treated the victim for a contusion to the back of his head but he did not require hospitalization, Crum said.
Detectives found a broken chair, duct tape, an axe and a .22-caliber rifle at the scene, Crum said.
The three men were found near the home on the property and were arrested without incident. They were booked into Sonoma County Jail under $1.2 million bail on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, conspiracy, false imprisonment and vehicle theft.
They are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Sonoma County Superior Court.
