San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus is pushing back against a federal lawsuit alleging that the seizure of 60,000 marijuana plants in a pair of raids has deprived a Native American Church affiliate of one of its “core sacraments.”
In an interview with the Southern California News Group, Dicus defended the propriety of the raids on Nov. 14, 2024, and Jan. 17, 2025, at a 99-acre property in unincorporated Oro Grande leased by the California Evergreen Farms Native American Church.
The lawsuit, which was transferred from state to federal court in May, was filed by James Warren “Flaming Eagle” Mooney, the 81-year-old founder of the church branch. The suit accuses Dicus, San Bernardino County and its land use and code enforcement departments of violating the church’s First Amendment rights protecting religious freedom.
Dicus said the raids were justified, noting that the marijuana was located on private property, not sovereign land belonging to a Native American tribe. An investigation also revealed the pot — which the sheriff said had a black market value of about $57 million — was not being shipped to any tribes, he added.
Thirty-six people were arrested in the raids and all but one are Chinese nationals, according to Dicus. The suspects face a variety of misdemeanor and felony charges for marijuana cultivation, sales, transportation for sale, unlawful water discharge, unlawful possession and use of illegal pesticides as well as tax code violations.
Sheriff’s personnel also confiscated six weapons, including an AR-15 ghost rifle, a .22-caliber rifle, a shotgun and three semi-automatic handguns.
A chemical analysis of some of the seized pot plants revealed herbicides containing 13 cancer-causing carcinogens, Dicus said. “One of my main concerns (about the marijuana) is the proliferation of bad products going out to consumers,” he said. Additionally, he said, potential runoff from the grow operation posed a danger to the Mojave River Watershed.
In a phone interview from his home in Spanish Fork, Utah, Mooney said the raids stemmed from a “misunderstanding” with the Sheriff’s Department, adding that California Evergreen Farms was asked by the property owner to lease the land and clean up illegal activity occurring there.
“I told him I would not work with him unless he became a member of the church and made a solemn promise to abide by the laws of the land,” said Moody, who plans to move from Utah to the Oro Grande property, which is situated north of Victorville and east of Adelanto in the Mojave Desert.
The lawsuit alleges the raids have deterred members of California Evergreen Farms from participation in religious ceremonies.
“The prior presence of armed law enforcement at California Evergreen Farms Native American Church’s place of worship instilled fear among members, discouraging attendance at religious gatherings and violating their ability to freely exercise their faith,” the suit states.
According to the suit, Sheriff’s Department personnel involved in the raids failed to inform the court that a church was the focus of the operations when they obtained search warrants.
The complaint states California Evergreen Farms notified San Bernardino County as early as Aug. 29, 2024, that the leased land was being blessed and would be occupied by the church.
The church is seeking recognition of California Evergreen Farms’ right to grow and use sacramental plant medicines, including cannabis, for religious purposes. It also requests an injunction prohibiting further raids, code enforcement actions, or criminal or civil claims against the church and its members.
In the interview, Moody additionally claimed that during the raid, sheriff’s personnel needlessly destroyed several greenhouses used to cultivate the church’s sacramental marijuana. “Who the hell does that?” he asked. “I couldn’t believe it.”
California Evergreen Farms is affiliated with the Native American Church, which was incorporated in 1918 in the Oklahoma Territory and is considered the most widespread religious movement among North America’s indigenous people.
The church’s tenets include Native American beliefs, elements of Christianity, and the ceremonial use of peyote, a cactus containing the hallucinogenic compound mescaline, along with cannabis and other entheogenic sacraments.
“For centuries, native, indigenous (people), and countless others have used these sacred plant medicines as a means of spiritual enlightenment, healing and divine communion,” the suit states. “The use of these sacraments is fundamental to one’s religious exercise, spiritual healing and sacred worship practices.”
In 1994, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was amended to include protections for the possession, transportation, and ingestion of peyote in traditional ceremonies for enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribes.
Tribes can exercise sovereignty to license, regulate, and even legalize cannabis activities within their borders since state law generally does not apply to tribal activity on reservations, according to the Regulatory Review. Although many states that allow recreational marijuana sale do so by issuing growing and retail licenses to applicants, some statutes exclude Native American tribes from this licensing process.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the value of the marijuana plants seized by the Sheriff's Department. They had a black market value of $57 million.
