Mendocino activist facing pot charges

UKIAH -- Mendocino County community activist Laura Hamburg is facing felony marijuana-related charges following a raid on her rural home, where an estimated 50 pounds of processed pot and about $10,000 in cash were found.

Sheriff's investigators uncovered the marijuana and money in late October in a small house Laura Hamburg occupies at a Hamburg family compound on Boonville Road south of Ukiah.

The property is owned by her father, former Rep. Dan Hamburg, D-Ukiah, a well-known advocate of marijuana use for medicinal purposes. Dan Hamburg and his wife, Carrie, live in a separate residence.

Authorities said Dan Hamburg does not face any charges in connection with his 43-year-old daughter's case. Laura Hamburg told investigators at the time of the Oct. 25 raid that the marijuana was being cultivated, processed and distributed under provisions of the state's medical marijuana law, Proposition 215.

Keith Faulder, a former county prosecutor now in private practice, showed up during the raid after being called by Laura Hamburg, authorities said. Neither Faulder nor Laura Hamburg could be reached for comment Tuesday on the raid, or prosecutors' subsequent decision to file charges.

Dan Hamburg said Tuesday he was aware of last month's raid on his 43-year-old daughter's home, and the felony charges she now faces.

"I hope her case doesn't become the focus instead of the confusion and chaos surrounding the state's medical marijuana laws," Dan Hamburg said.

At the time of the raid, Laura Hamburg was not arrested or booked, as is typical of local medical marijuana-related cases. Sheriff investigators recommended prosecution when the case was turned over for review by the District Attorney's Office.

Deputies had gone to the Hamburg property on an unrelated matter a few days before the raid, and the marijuana growing operation was observed. Deputies later returned after obtaining a search warrant signed by a local Superior Court judge.

District Attorney Meredith Lintott said Tuesday that Laura Hamburg has been formally notified that felony marijuana cultivation, possession for sale and distribution charges have been filed. Laura Hamburg is to appear in Mendocino County Superior Court for arraignment Dec. 11.

Laura Hamburg is widely known in Mendocino County as a political activist, free-lance writer and former editor of a weekly publication called The Bullhorn.

She was the key media representative for another precedent-setting county vote in 2004: passage of the first local initiative in the United States to ban genetically modified organisms.

Large nation agribusinesses pumped in nearly $700,000 in a failed attempt to defeat the county GMO measure. Laura Hamburg was credited with orchestrating a media-savvy local campaign in support of the measure.

Laura Hamburg's pot case is the second high-profile marijuana case to be disclosed locally within the past month.

On Nov. 16, sheriff's deputies seized 39 pounds of dried pot from the Redwood Valley home of Sherylin Young, the budget and finance officer for the District Attorney's Office. Young, hired two years ago by the late District Attorney Norman Vroman, has been placed on leave pending an investigation, according to authorities.

You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.