Man Accused Of Pot Farming On Skyline Ridge Pleads Not Guilty

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA – A man accused of illegally growing nearly 7,000 marijuana plants on public land in San Mateo County's Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve, near Los Altos Hills, pleaded not guilty Monday morning in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Juan Cuevas Sanchez, 37, was arrested July 21 in connection with a marijuana grow site where investigators found 6,889 marijuana plants and an unpermitted water diversion from a creek that had been illegally dammed.

Irrigation lines had been set up to carry water from a man-made pool to the plants, according to prosecutors.

"All I can tell you is that there are mitigating circumstances," defense attorney Jerry Lipkin said this morning about the case.

Sanchez is out on $10,000 bail and set to return to court on Sept. 27.

• ALSO SEE: Plane Crash Victim ID'd As Peninsula Man

--Bay City News/Pixabay image