Deputies from the Ventura County Sheriff’s office arrested a Sun Valley man on Friday in connection with the theft of legally-grown hemp plants.
In the early morning of Friday, November 8, deputies responded to a report of a theft that had just occurred at a hemp farm in the 4000 block of East Telegraph Road in Piru, California.
A security guard who had been hired to watch the farm made the call after finding an adult male on the property holding a large bag.
The security guard had ordered the man to stop but the man refused to comply and fled on foot.
Suspecting that there might be an accomplice, the guard conducted a search of the hemp field and discovered a second subject lying among the plants.
The first subject was not captured.
After deputies arrived at the farm, they located numerous plastic trash bags filled with freshly-cut hemp plants.
Deputies also located methamphetamine on the ground as well as hedge clippers that appeared to have been used to cut the hemp plants.
When deputies searched the suspect who was found lying in the hemp field, 70-year-old Timothy Fulp, they recovered drug paraphernalia from him.
Fulp admitted to deputies that he had thought that the plants he was stealing were marijuana, not hemp.
Deputies arrested Fulp on charges of grand theft, conspiracy, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Fulp is currently in custody and awaiting arraignment on Monday, November 11 with bail set at $50,000.
