Three sentenced following 1994 drug raid near Saum

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

July 18, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Three men arrested 2 1/2 years ago in connection with a drug raid near Saum were sentenced in federal court Wednesday, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. District Attorney's office in Minneapolis.

Darold John Sheridan, 30, of Saum; George Richard Hemen, 35, of Isanti; and Rodney Steven Moore, 29, of Honolulu, Hawaii, appeared before Chief Judge Paul Magneson, and were sentenced to 20 months, 18 months and 30 months in prison, respectively.

All three were convicted earlier this year of manufacturing marijuana, distributing marijuana, possessing marijuana with an intent to distribute it and conspiring to manufacture marijuana.

The three were arrested Dec. 18, 1994, when authorities raided the farm a half mile from Saum and seized more than $2 million worth of high-grade marijuana and $20,000 worth of drug manufacturing equipment. It was described at the time as probably one of the largest marijuana growing operations in Minnesota's history.

After the arrest, the men were turned over to federal custody and were released a day later. They remained free until they were charged earlier this year

During the raid, police found more than 900 high-grade marijuana plants growing in various stages in a large pole barn on the rural Saum farm. In a farm shed adjacent to the barn, large numbers of marijuana bud clusters were found in the process of being dried. The pole barn was equipped with automatic heaters, fans, grow lights and equipment to feed nutrients directly to the plants' root systems. There also was a military-type generator which powered the entire operation.

Officials speculated at the time of the raid that the operation was shipping the marijuana to Hawaii.