Butte County Shock! Parents Arrested as Lost Toddler Found in Illegal Grow Site

Two parents in Butte County were arrested on suspicion of endangering a child after their lost 3-year-old daughter was found in an illegal grow site with more than 5,000 marijuana plants and more than 6,000 pounds of processed marijuana.

Monday around 10:30 p.m., a woman called the Butte County Sheriff’s Office to say that her 3-year-old child was missing from a home on a 51-acre plot in the 7000 block of La Porte Road in Bangor, which is in a rural area a few miles southeast of Oroville.

Officials from the police, search and rescue groups, and a tracking K-9 started looking for the kid. The search was joined by sheriff’s officers from Yuba County. The kid hadn’t been seen since Monday at 7:30 p.m. The Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Thursday afternoon that detectives found proof that the child’s parents, a 35-year-old father and a 32-year-old mother, were growing marijuana on the property.

Officials from the sheriff’s office said that officers found out that the missing child’s parents often went to places where marijuana was grown. The sheriff’s tracking dog took deputies to a place where marijuana was being grown illegally.

Around 3:20 a.m. Tuesday, police found the girl under a tarp that was covering a big illegal marijuana growing site. This was almost eight hours after the daughter was reported missing.

The Sheriff’s Office said the girl was found about two feet away from hundreds of marijuana plants. She was cold and needed medical help right away, they said. The girl was taken to the hospital and treated. After her stay, she was sent back to Butte County Children’s Services.

The parents of the child, who both live in Bangor, were arrested at the Butte County Jail on criminal child endangerment charges.

When officers went to the house on La Porte Road on Tuesday afternoon with a search warrant, they found four guns, about 6,600 pounds of processed marijuana, and 5,200 marijuana plants.