Man sentenced for pot, mountain lion

A Fort Bragg man was sentenced Friday to 180 days in jail for felony marijuana cultivation and ordered to pay $1,500 for misdemeanor possession of a mountain lion.

Russell Rexrode, 41, also was banned for life from owning firearms, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

Marijuana, weapons and owl talons were found on Rexrode’s property during a 2005 search by state Fish and Game officials in connection with one of three mountain lion kittens they believed had been captured and distributed by a Philo man.

One kitten died when it was hit by a car; one was handed over to a wildlife rescue agency and Rexrode delivered the third to a veterinary hospital after learning wildlife officials were seeking the animal, officials said at the time.

In addition to 119 pounds of processed marijuana and 142 pounds of wet pot, law enforcement officials said they found owl talons, 35 rifles and handguns, nunchakus, 100 bottle rockets and and $3,860 in cash during the search of Rexrode’s home.

Rexrode, his physician wife and other witnesses claimed at trial that the marijuana found by law enforcement was for medicinal purposes, the District Attorney’s Office said.