Michigan man sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for 2016 Knights Valley marijuana farm murder

A Michigan man convicted of fatally stabbing his boss at a Knights Valley marijuana farm in 2016 was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

The sentence, handed down by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert LaForge, came after a jury found Arent Bradt, 36, guilty of second-degree murder Sept. 23.

The jury also found “true” an enhancement that Bradt used a knife to attack 40-year-old Cesar Gonzalez-Rivas, a crime for which LaForge added a year to Bradt’s sentence.

On Thanksgiving in 2016, Gonzalez-Rivas and Bradt were working at the Knights Valley home of a marijuana grower who was friends with Gonzalez-Rivas. At the time, Bradt was employed by Gonzalez-Rivas, who was also a pot grower, to work as a security guard at his home.

That day, Gonzalez-Rivas told Bradt he didn’t need him to work on his property anymore. While they argued, Bradt pulled out a knife and stabbed Gonzalez-Rivas once in the neck and another 17 times in the back.

A marijuana trimmer who lived at the home heard the altercation and called 911 after he saw that Gonzalez-Rivas was bleeding.

When authorities responded, they found Bradt on the property and took him into custody. In a police interview, he admitted that he stabbed Gonzalez-Rivas in the neck.